Multisport: Playing the Israel anthem refused

The organisers of the Judo Grand Slam in Abu Dhabi have refused to let Tal Flicker, the Israeli winner, play his national anthem. At the award ceremony of the class up to 66 kilos, the hymn of the Judo World Judo Federation IJF was heard instead, whose flag was also pulled under the roof of the hall. Flicker sang softly the lyrics of his national anthem “Hatikva” (The Hope) during this unusual procedure.

“I decided to sing the Hatikva on the podium because Israel is my country and I’m proud to be Israeli,”Flicker told the Israeli TV channel Channel 2:”The hymn of the World Federation played was just a background noise. The whole world knows that we are from Israel and who we represent.”

The World Federation itself listed Israel’s athletes in its overview of results not under their usual country abbreviation “ISR” but under the association abbreviation “IJF” – otherwise only stateless athletes as well as internationally not recognized federations.

The organisers of the Grand Slam in Abu Dhabi, however, have done so by announcing. The Israeli athletes, who had travelled to the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) despite the expected difficulties, had already known in advance that they would have to compete on their suit without country symbols. It had also been made clear that neither the Israeli flag nor the anthem would be played at award ceremonies. The UAE has no diplomatic relations with Israel.

The organisers had already announced their action before the start of the competitions and demanded, among other things, that the Israelis would have to compete without national symbols on their clothes. Israeli Sports Minister Miri Regev responded to this with a letter to President Thomas Bach of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) demanding equal treatment of all participants.

The United Arab Emirates and Israel do not maintain diplomatic relations. The participation of Israeli athletes in competitions in Arab states always provokes a negative reaction.