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Israeli Teen Wins Jiu-Jitsu Gold Medal After Emirati Opponent Gets Disqualified for Threatening Gesture
Patras, Greece. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
An Israeli teen jiu-jitsu athlete was awarded the gold medal of an international competition in Crete, Greece, on Monday after his opponent from the United Arab Emirates, who initially won the match, was disqualified for making a throat-cutting hand gesture toward his Israeli rival.
Daniel Boaron, 13, was named the winner of the 2024 Ju-Jitsu World Championship in the under-14 division and under-48 kg (106 lb) weight class, even though he had initially lost to his Emirati opponent Ahmed Alketbi in the final match of the competition.
A video from the match shows that after Alketbi’s initial victory, he turned to the audience and made a throat-cutting gesture that was directed at Boaron. In the clip, a member of the audience can be heard yelling at the referee, trying to get his attention about the gesture that Boaron made. It was also brought to the attention of Amir Boaron, Daniel’s father who is also the team coach. The coach approached the judges about the incident and demanded that Alketbi be disqualified, he told i24News. After two hours of deliberation, the judges disqualified the Emirati competitor, and the gold medal was awarded to Daniel.
“From the first day of the competition, the competitors from the Muslim countries such as Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar did not behave well towards us, did not shake hands, booed from the crowd, shouted ‘Free Palestine,’” Amir said, as reported by Ynet. “The United Arab Emirates behaved more nicely, and it turned out that this country had a competitor in the final. The opponent beat Daniel by two points and signaled to the audience as if he was slaughtering. This is inappropriate behavior and the judges disqualified him from the podium.”
The coach added that Alketbi apologized for the gesture, claiming that he did it out of excitement for initially winning the match. “I told him I accept the forgiveness,” Amir said. “But there are the rules … an athlete has rules, and if you behave like that, you shouldn’t win the gold.”
Daniel explained that he was “very moved” by the gold medal and said of his opponent: “I hope I’ll meet him again at the next final, to beat him on the mat, and to embrace him afterward, because he should know, you can’t bring politics into the sport.”
Olympic medal-winning Israeli judoka Sagi Muki slammed Alketbi for the offensive gesture in a video posted on Instagram. Muki called the gesture “shocking” and said, “Sport should be a unifying factor. All sports people in the world must take advantage of this platform because, ultimately, sport is pure.”
Muki talked about similarly facing hatred from other athletes who have animus toward the state of Israel. He cited an incident at the 2019 World Judo Championship semifinals in Tokyo, Japan, when his rival from Egypt refused to shake his hand after Muki won their bout.
“It’s precisely through sport that we can connect free of all politics and we athletes must use this stage to foster understanding so that the whole world can watch, love sports, and connect with each other,” Muki said. “Take advantage of this stage, and I hope that we’ll never see things like what we just saw ever again.”
“We’ve run into hostile reactions since the start of the championship, from the audience as well as from a number of the competitors, such as those from Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia,” he added. “We feel the hate toward Israel, but it won’t help them at all, because we’re proud to keep representing our one Jewish state, and the anthem will continue to be heard.”
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Iran, US Task Experts to Design Framework for a Nuclear Deal, Tehran Says
Atomic symbol and USA and Iranian flags are seen in this illustration taken, September 8, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
Iran and the United States agreed on Saturday to task experts to start drawing up a framework for a potential nuclear deal, Iran’s foreign minister said, after a second round of talks following President Donald Trump’s threat of military action.
At their second indirect meeting in a week, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi negotiated for almost four hours in Rome with Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, through an Omani official who shuttled messages between them.
Trump, who abandoned a 2015 nuclear pact between Tehran and world powers during his first term in 2018, has threatened to attack Iran unless it reaches a new deal swiftly that would prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran, which says its nuclear program is peaceful, says it is willing to discuss limited curbs to its atomic work in return for lifting international sanctions.
Speaking on state TV after the talks, Araqchi described them as useful and conducted in a constructive atmosphere.
“We were able to make some progress on a number of principles and goals, and ultimately reached a better understanding,” he said.
“It was agreed that negotiations will continue and move into the next phase, in which expert-level meetings will begin on Wednesday in Oman. The experts will have the opportunity to start designing a framework for an agreement.”
The top negotiators would meet again in Oman next Saturday to “review the experts’ work and assess how closely it aligns with the principles of a potential agreement,” he added.
Echoing cautious comments last week from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, he added: “We cannot say for certain that we are optimistic. We are acting very cautiously. There is no reason either to be overly pessimistic.”
There was no immediate comment from the US side following the talks. Trump told reporters on Friday: “I’m for stopping Iran, very simply, from having a nuclear weapon. They can’t have a nuclear weapon. I want Iran to be great and prosperous and terrific.”
Washington’s ally Israel, which opposed the 2015 agreement with Iran that Trump abandoned in 2018, has not ruled out an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities in the coming months, according to an Israeli official and two other people familiar with the matter.
Since 2019, Iran has breached and far surpassed the 2015 deal’s limits on its uranium enrichment, producing stocks far above what the West says is necessary for a civilian energy program.
A senior Iranian official, who described Iran’s negotiating position on condition of anonymity on Friday, listed its red lines as never agreeing to dismantle its uranium enriching centrifuges, halt enrichment altogether or reduce its enriched uranium stockpile below levels agreed in the 2015 deal.
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Hamas Says Fate of US-Israeli Hostage Unknown After Guard Killed in Israel Strike
Varda Ben Baruch, the grandmother of Edan Alexander, 19, an Israeli army volunteer kidnapped by Hamas, attends a special Kabbalat Shabbat ceremony with families of other hostages, in Herzliya, Israel October 27, 2023 REUTERS/Kuba Stezycki
Hamas said on Saturday the fate of an Israeli dual national soldier believed to be the last US citizen held alive in Gaza was unknown, after the body of one of the guards who had been holding him was found killed by an Israeli strike.
A month after Israel abandoned the ceasefire with the resumption of intensive strikes across the breadth of Gaza, Israel was intensifying its attacks.
President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff said in March that freeing Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old New Jersey native who was serving in the Israeli army when he was captured during the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks that precipitated the war, was a “top priority.” His release was at the center of talks held between Hamas leaders and US negotiator Adam Boehler last month.
Hamas had said on Tuesday that it had lost contact with the militants holding Alexander after their location was hit in an Israeli attack. On Saturday it said the body of one of the guards had been recovered.
“The fate of the prisoner and the rest of the captors remains unknown,” said Hamas armed wing Al-Qassam Brigades’ spokesperson Abu Ubaida.
“We are trying to protect all the hostages and preserve their lives … but their lives are in danger because of the criminal bombings by the enemy’s army,” Abu Ubaida said.
The Israeli military did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Hamas released 38 hostages under the ceasefire that began on January 19. Fifty-nine are still believed to be held in Gaza, fewer than half of them still alive.
Israel put Gaza under a total blockade in March and restarted its assault on March 18 after talks failed to extend the ceasefire. Hamas says it will free remaining hostages only under an agreement that permanently ends the war; Israel says it will agree only to a temporary pause.
On Friday, the Israeli military said it hit about 40 targets across the enclave over the past day. The military on Saturday announced that a 35-year-old soldier had died in combat in Gaza.
NETANYAHU STATEMENT
Late on Thursday Khalil Al-Hayya, Hamas’ Gaza chief, said the movement was willing to swap all remaining 59 hostages for Palestinians jailed in Israel in return for an end to the war and reconstruction of Gaza.
He dismissed an Israeli offer, which includes a demand that Hamas lay down its arms, as imposing “impossible conditions.”
Israel has not responded formally to Al-Hayya’s comments, but ministers have said repeatedly that Hamas must be disarmed completely and can play no role in the future governance of Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to give a statement later on Saturday.
Hamas on Saturday also released an undated and edited video of Israeli hostage Elkana Bohbot. Hamas has released several videos over the course of the war of hostages begging to be released. Israeli officials have dismissed past videos as propaganda.
After the video was released, Bohbot’s family said in a statement that they were “deeply shocked and devastated,” and expressed concern for his mental and physical condition.
“How much longer will he be expected to wait and ‘stay strong’?” the family asked, urging for all of the 59 hostages who are still held in Gaza to be brought home.
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Oman’s Sultan to Meet Putin in Moscow After Iran-US Talks
FILE PHOTO: Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said gives a speech after being sworn in before the royal family council in Muscat, Oman January 11, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Sultan Al Hasani/File Photo
Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said is set to visit Moscow on Monday, days after the start of a round of Muscat-mediated nuclear talks between the US and Iran.
The sultan will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, the Kremlin said.
Iran and the US started a new round of nuclear talks in Rome on Saturday to resolve their decades-long standoff over Tehran’s atomic aims, under the shadow of President Donald Trump’s threat to unleash military action if diplomacy fails.
Ahead of Saturday’s talks, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. Following the meeting, Lavrov said Russia was “ready to assist, mediate and play any role that will be beneficial to Iran and the USA.”
Moscow has played a role in Iran’s nuclear negotiations in the past as a veto-wielding U.N. Security Council member and signatory to an earlier deal that Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018.
The sultan’s meetings in Moscow visit will focus on cooperation on regional and global issues, the Omani state news agency and the Kremlin said, without providing further detail.
The two leaders are also expected to discuss trade and economic ties, the Kremlin added.
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