Israel's Olympic flag-carrier wrote message on bomb bound for Gaza
Pro-Palestinian campaigners have expressed outrage after it was revealed Israel's flag-carrier in the Olympics had written on a bomb bound for Gaza.
Peter Paltchik, in a now-deleted post on X (formerly Twitter), shared an image of a bomb with his name on it along with the caption, "from me to you with pleasure", as well as "#HamasisISIS" and "#IsraelAtWar".
This apologist of genocide is the "athlete" leading Israel in tomorrow's Olympic ceremony. Israel should be BANNED. BTW, another European stealing Palestinian land.https://t.co/QJyr4nZvcNhttps://t.co/MngcfMB39l pic.twitter.com/1NMwAWd7WP
— Raphael Tsavkko Garcia 🇺🇦🇵🇸 (@Tsavkko) July 24, 2024
Paltchik, a Ukrainian-born judo champion, also provoked controversy in March when he and a group of other Israeli athletes disrupted a demonstration in Tokyo held by pro-Palestinian activists.
Demonstrators accused the athletes of trying to "pick fights with them despite being asked repeatedly to leave”.
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For their part, one of the athletes said on social media that they had "entered a demonstration of Hamas supporters" to explain to them that they "did not understand anything".
Israeli judo team disrupt a demonstration in solidarity with Palestine in Japan and threaten to kill protestors while wearing their Olympics uniform.
— Leyla Hamed (@leylahamed) April 18, 2024
Why is the Olympics Committee @iocmedia still silent over such violent behaviour? #BanIsraelFromSports pic.twitter.com/eNeteS5nSU
Israel's presence at the Olympics has already provoked criticism from a number of quarters, particularly after Russia's invasion of Ukraine prompted Russia to be suspended from participation.
The Palestine Olympic Committee has called on the head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to similarly exclude Israel from the games, saying that the country has also breached the Olympic Truce.
A UN General Assembly resolution mandates a global truce throughout the duration of the Paris 2024 Olympics.
In a letter to Thomas Bach, the committee said that Israel had violated the truce within the first 24 hours through its attack on Khan Younis on Monday, which killed over 70 people.
"This contravention underscores the urgent need for [IOC] and Fifa to act in line with its statutes and promote respect for international human rights law,” the letter read.
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