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‘It’s a Welcome Distraction’: Israel Concludes Historic Run at Olympics Despite Facing Pressure, Threats, War
Paris 2024 Olympics – Ceremonies – Paris 2024 Closing Ceremony – Stade de France, Saint-Denis, France – August 11, 2024. Athletes of Israel take part in the closing ceremony. Photo: REUTERS/Albert Gea
Israel on Sunday completed its most successful performance in the Olympic Games in the history of the country, taking home a record-breaking seven medals while its delegation faced obstacles including death threats, security concerns, and pressure for them to be banned from the Olympics because of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
Israeli athletes won one gold medal in addition to five silver and a bronze at the Paris Games. Their last medal win took place on Saturday, when Israel’s rhythmic gymnastics team earned silver in the women’s rhythmic all-round group finals with a score of 68.850 points. They only trailed China, which won gold with a score of 69.800. The Israeli team consisted of five women: Shani Bakanov, 18, Adar Friedmann, 18, Romi Paritzki, 20, Ofir Shaham, 19, and Diana Svertsov, 19. The bronze medal went to Italy.
Israel reached the rhythmic team finals in the 2008, 2016, and 2020 Olympics, but Saturday’s win was Israel’s first Olympic medal in the team category.
Before arriving in Paris, Israel had a total of 13 Olympic medals in its history, but after the 2024 Olympic Games the country now has 20 — which include nine in judo and four in gymnastics.
“We’ve never been prouder,” read a post on Sunday that was published on the state of Israel’s official X/Twitter account. “Thank you Team Israel. Am Yisrael Chai.”
One of the proudest moments at the 2024 Olympic Games was when Tom Reuveny won a gold medal in the men’s windsurfing event, resulting in Israel’s national anthem “Hatikvah” playing on the speakers on the shores of Marseilles for the first during the Olympics this year. Reuveny carried Israel’s flag with Paritzki in the closing ceremony of the Paris Olympics on Sunday.
Israel’s other Olympic winners this year included Sharon Kantor, who became the first Israeli woman to win a sailing medal when she took silver; judoka Raz Hershko, who won silver in the women’s over 78-kg category; fellow judoka Peter Paltchik and his bronze medal win in the men’s under 100-kg category; judoka Inbar Lanir, who won silver in the women’s under 78-kg category; and artistic gymnast Artem Dolgopyat, a silver medal winner in the men’s floor exercise. Dolgopyat won a gold in the Tokyo Olympics in the same category and is now Israel’s most decorated Olympian.
While there were heightened concerns before the Olympics started about the safety and security of the Israeli Olympic delegation during their time in Paris, the Games were relatively quiet with increased security personnel provided by Israel’s Shin Ben and also French police.
Anti-Israel posters and signs were seen at soccer matches, and some audience members booed during events that involved Israeli athletes. Palestinian flags were also waved as Israeli athletes competed, and two Israeli judokas were snubbed by their opponents in two different categories, one of which is being investigated by the International Judo Federation.
Meanwhile, Patlchik was criticized for supporting the Israel Defense Forces in its war against Hamas terrorists and Yael Arad, president of the Israeli National Olympic Committee, said some team members faced “centralized” threats aimed at stirring “psychological terror” in the athletes during the Olympic Games. There were also repeated efforts to have Israel banned from the Olympics.
Despite such obstacles and backlash because of the Israel-Hamas war, Team Israel prevailed and made history at the Olympics. They saw support from fans that even shocked the athletes themselves.
“We have so much support, which is shocking to me because we were obviously prepared for people to not be supportive,” Israeli equestrian Ashlee Bond told AFP. “The fact that we had so much support brought tears to my eyes.”
David Wiseman is the co-founder of Follow Team Israel, a page on Facebook and Instagram that shares stories about Israeli sports and athletes around the world. He spoke with The Algemeiner about Israel’s historic performance in the Olympic Games in Paris and how the counry’s Olympic delegation has grown over the years.
“It’s amazing that the Israeli team has been able to perform so well on the biggest stage with so many pressures that other athletes don’t have to deal with,” he said. “Israeli sport is getting better and better and better. Twelve years ago, the [Israeli Olympic] team was 37 athletes and didn’t win a medal. Now we’re 88 athletes (inflated by the soccer team of 18) and thus far have won seven. And these seven medals mean so much to the nation in a time when we’re dealing with so much. They are a welcome distraction and put a spring in everyone’s steps.”
“The reality is that just to get to the Olympics, the Israeli athletes have to be of a fantastic standard and then it comes down to being able to do it on the day,” he added. “After the Olympics, there’s a little bit of buzz for the athletes but then fans and media move on to basketball and football and no one cares much for sailing, judo and gymnastics, etc. That’s why we created the page — to share the amazing stories of our athletes all the time, regardless of the sport they play. The fans learn about the athletes and become more appreciative of them. I hope that following these historic Games, the powers that be will realize the significance and importance of sport and put even more resources into it. Our athletes deserve it.”
Gilad Lustig, the secretary general of Israel’s Olympic committee, believes there is symbolism with Israel winning seven medals at the Olympics when viewed in conjunction with Oct. 7, the date of the deadly Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel that started the ongoing war in Gaza.
“It’s the most important closing of the circle, after what they tried to do to us on Oct. 7,” he told Haaretz. “We are here, on the map.”
“This is our victory over what happened on Oct. 7,” Lustig added. “From the bottom of our hearts, from every team of ours, from all the people that accompanied this. The feeling of our mission is much greater, and we can seal it with the story of the seven medals. There is nothing more symbolic than that.”
Israel will give a total of NIS 5 million ($1.3 million), tax-free, to its Olympic medalists and NIS 2.5 million ($662,449) to the coaches of the winners, according to The Times of Israel. NIS 1 million will be given to its gold medalist; NIS 700,000 to each silver medalists, and NIS 500,000 to its bronze medalist.
Besides medals, athletes part of Team Israel made other achievements as well in the Paris Olympic. Lonah Chemtai Salpeter — a 35-year-old native of Kenya who is an Israeli citizen — finished in ninth place in the women’s marathon, which is the top placement for Israel in any Olympic marathon. Cyclist Mikhail Yakovlev, 23, held a new Olympic record in the men’s sprint during the qualifying race, but only for less than a minute before it was quickly overtaken by two of his competitors.
Israel’s artistic swimmers Shelly Bobritsky and Ariel Nassee finished 11th in the duet but the placement is Israel’s best Olympic finish in the category. The Israeli swim team that competed in the men’s 4×200 meter freestyle relay set a new record for Israel, and in the men’s 100-meter breaststroke, Ron Polonsky broke an Israeli record that he previously set.
Jewish athletes competing for other countries also won big at the Olympics this year.
American-Israeli wrestler Amit Elor, 20, won the gold medal in the women’s freestyle wrestling 68-kg finals. The Team USA athlete became the youngest American wrestler to win an Olympic gold in the history of the US, and the third woman from the US to win Olympic gold in wrestling. Team USA Jewish athletes Jackie Dubrovich and Maia Weintraub won gold as part of the women’s foil team, and American swimmer Claire Weinstein won her first Olympic medal this year — a silver in the women’s 4×200-meter freestyle relay. Sarah Levy won bronze as part of the US women’s rugby sevens team and American fencer Nick Itkin also took bronze in the men’s individual foil competition.
Jessica Fox won two gold medals in Paris for Team Australia, making her the most decorated canoe shalom competitor in the history of the Olympics. When her younger sister Naomi, 27, won gold in the first ever canoe slalom women’s kayak cross at the 2024 Olympic Games, they reportedly became the first Jewish siblings to both win gold at the same Olympics since 1964.
The post ‘It’s a Welcome Distraction’: Israel Concludes Historic Run at Olympics Despite Facing Pressure, Threats, War first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Former Clinton Adviser Says Harris Not ‘Sufficiently Committed to Israel and Fighting Antisemitism’
US Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during an event with leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as part of the US-ASEAN Special Summit, in Washington, DC, May 13, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
Doug Schoen, a former adviser under then-US President Bill Clinton, revealed on Tuesday that he is not planning to vote for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris to serve as the next commander-in-chief in the White House, citing her policies toward Israel and combating antisemitism as the main reasons.
During an appearance on Fox News, Schoen said he “cannot” commit to voting for Harris, stating that he is “undecided” on who he will support in the 2024 presidential race. The former Clinton pollster voiced concern about Harris’s unstable positions on Israel and the Middle East.
“At this point I cannot [vote for Harris],” Schoen said. “I would call myself undecided, at this point. But I can’t vote for her, for reasons related to her changing position and also the Middle East as we have talked about before. I do not believe she is sufficiently committed to Israel and fighting antisemitism.”
Schoen has previously criticized the Biden administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war.
In April, Schoen noted that the administration was under immense pressure by the left wing of the Democratic Party to “take a strong stance against the Jewish State.” He argued that the anti-Israel drift of the Democratic Party is “dangerous” and overlooks the Jewish state’s “strategic importance.” He also lamented that US President Joe Biden adopted a more pointed and adversarial “tone” toward America’s closest Middle Eastern ally.
“During this turbulent time in Israel, it is crucial that Biden prioritizes realpolitik over politics. He mustn’t cave to the political pressure he is facing from within his own party to denounce Israel forcefully,” Schoen wrote.
In May, Schoen published an op-ed in the Orange County Register, arguing that the Biden administration’s decision to halt some arms transfers to Israel hamstrung the Jewish state’s ability to eradicate the Hamas terrorist threat from the Gaza Strip. He lambasted the decision as “politically motivated” and argued that it “endangers Israeli lives.”
“By trying to prevent Israel from defeating Hamas, the Biden administration is giving Hamas more aid and support than it is giving Israel,” Schoen wrote.
Schoen’s concerns over the true extent of Harris’s support for Israel has been echoed by other supporters of the Jewish state in the weeks since she has replaced Biden at the top of the Democratic presidential ticket. Though Harris has voiced support for the Jewish state’s right to exist and self-defense, she harbors close ties to the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, which has become increasingly hostile toward the Jewish state. Harris has been under pressure from pro-Palestinian activists to break with the Biden administration by adopting a more adversarial posture toward Israel.
She has also expressed sympathy for far-left narratives that brand Israel as “genocidal.” The vice president has additionally often criticized Israel’s war effort against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.
Harris also pushed the unsubstantiated narrative that Israel has intentionally withheld aid from the people of Gaza, allegedly triggering a famine.
“People in Gaza are starving. The conditions are inhumane. And our common humanity compels us to act,” Harris said. “The Israeli government must do more to significantly increase the flow of aid.”
Harris has also expressed sympathy for anti-Israel protesters on US university campuses, saying that they are “showing exactly what the human emotion should be.”
Some indicators suggest that Harris could adopt a more antagonistic approach to the Jewish state than Biden. For example, Harris urged the White House to be more “sympathetic” toward Palestinians and take a “tougher” stance against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a Politico report in December. Then in March, White House aides forced Harris to tone down a speech that was too tough on Israel, according to NBC News.
However, during her speech at the final night of the Democratic National Convention last month, Harris reaffirmed her commitment to ensuring Israel’s security and vowed that her administration would always furnish the Jewish state with the arms necessary to thwart future terrorist threats.
The post Former Clinton Adviser Says Harris Not ‘Sufficiently Committed to Israel and Fighting Antisemitism’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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‘Student Intifada’: Pro-Hamas Groups to Follow 9/11 Anniversary With ‘Day of Action’
Anti-Israel demonstrators clash with New York City Police Department (NYPD) officers during a protest on April 18, 2024. Photo: Reuters Connect
National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) is planning to follow up the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks with a nationwide “Day of Action” on Thursday, Sept. 12, the group’s latest apparent evocation of Islamist terrorism in its campaigns against Israel and what it has described as the “American empire.”
“Last school year, the Student Movement for Palestine showed the world what we’re capable of,” NSJP said in a post published on X/Twitter last week, referring to the anti-Israel demonstrations which included acts of property destruction, antisemitic assault, and celebrations of terrorists its members perpetrated at colleges and universities across the US. “University repression will not stop us. Draconian speech codes will not stop us. There is only one way out: cut ties with the Zionist entity.”
The tweet featured a picture of a young man, who appeared to be Arab, concealing his face with a keffiyeh, a common practice of pro-Hamas activists who engage in unlawful activity and utter profane and antisemitic remarks at their demonstrations.
Last school year, the Student Movement for Palestine showed the world what we’re capable of.
University repression will not stop us. Draconian speech codes will not stop us.
There is only one way out: cut ties with the Zionist entity. pic.twitter.com/GNf6qVGVjh
— National Students for Justice in Palestine (@NationalSJP) September 5, 2024
NSJP has been building up anticipation of its “Day of Action” all month, calling it the continuance of a “student intifada” on Instagram on Sept. 2.
“Our universities have done everything in their power to ignore and redirect our demands for divestment, dodging accountability by suspending and surveilling students. Administrators far and wide have chosen to unleash police violence on students rather than end complicity in the Zionist occupation,” it said. “We will not rest until our universities divest. The Student Intifada continues — until divestment, until arms embargo.”
Meanwhile, the group at Pomona College last week promoted antisemitic conspiracy theories falsely accusing Israel and the US of spreading the Covid-19 virus to commit genocide and maintain “colonial” rule over people of color.
“Pandemics are a tool of the colonizer,” said an SJP pamphlet distributed during a club fair at the school, according to a Jewish students club, Haverim, that acquired a copy the document. “By bomb or by pathogen, these attacks on Palestinian life are man-made, intentional policy choices … The american [sic] state and israeli [sic] settler colony have found a dress rehearsal for more targeted genocides in their construction of today’s eugenicist normalcy wherein everyone is expected to sustain repeated covid infections indefinitely until death.”
Earlier this month, NSJP, which has been linked to Islamist terrorist organizations, publicly discussed its grand strategy of using the anti-Zionist student movement as a weapon for destroying the US in a now-deleted tweet that was posted to X/Twitter.
“Divestment is not an incrementalist goal. True divestment necessitates nothing short of the total collapse of the university structure and American empire itself,” the organization said last week. “It is not possible for imperial spoils to remain so heavily concentrated in the metropole and its high-cultural repositories without the continuous suppression of populations that resist the empire’s expansion; to divest from this is to undermine and eradicate America as we know it.”
The tweet was the latest in a series of progressive revelations of SJP’s revolutionary goals and its apparent plans to amass armies of students and young people for a long campaign of subversion against US institutions, including the economy, military, and higher education. Like past anti-American movements, SJP has also been fixated on the presence and prominence of Jews in American life and the US’s alliance with Israel, the world’s only Jewish state.
On the same day the tweet was posted, Columbia University’s most strident pro-Hamas organization was reported to be distributing literature calling on students to join the terror group’s movement to destroy Israel during this year’s convocation ceremony.
“This booklet is part of a coordinated and intentional effort to uphold the principles of the thawabit and the Palestinian resistance movement overall by transmitting the words of the resistance directly,” said a pamphlet distributed by Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), a Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) spinoff, to incoming freshmen. “This material aims to build popular support for the Palestinian war of national liberation, a war which is waged through armed struggle.”
Other sections of the pamphlet were explicitly Islamist, invoking the name of “Allah, the most gracious” and referring to Hamas as the “Islamic Resistance Movement.” Proclaiming, “Glory to Gaza that gave hope to the oppressed, that humiliated the ‘invincible’ Zionist army,” it says its purpose is to build an army of Muslims worldwide.
Middle East experts have long suspected that foreign agents are conspiring with SJP chapters — and its spinoffs — in the US to convulse college campuses and lobby for the disintegration of the US-Israel relationship, an outcome that would benefit Middle Eastern powers such as Iran, whose leaders regularly call for the destruction of both the US and Israel.
In July, US National Intelligence Director Avril Haines issued a statement outlining how Iran has encouraged and provided financial support to the anti-Israel campus protest movement and explaining that it is part of a larger plan to “undermine confidence in our democratic institutions.” However, Haines stopped short of arguing that there a hostile fifth column in the US seeking to subvert it from within, arguing that “Americans who are being targeted by this Iranian campaign may not be aware that they are interacting with our receiving support from a foreign government.”
Nevertheless, Haines confirmed that US intelligence agencies have “observed actors tied to Iran’s government posing as activists online, seeking to encourage protests, and even providing financial support to protesters.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post ‘Student Intifada’: Pro-Hamas Groups to Follow 9/11 Anniversary With ‘Day of Action’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Republican Jewish Coalition Announces $10 Million Anti-Harris Ad Buy in Bid to Bolster Trump Support
Matt Brooks, CEO of the Republican Jewish Coalition, holds a kippah in support of former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump as he speaks on Day 2 of the Republican National Convention, at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US, July 16, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Mike Segar
The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) announced a $10 million ad buy targeted at the US Jewish community and in favor of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump amid new polling showing he is trailing his Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris, significantly among Jewish voters.
“This is, by far, the largest and most comprehensive effort ever to turn out the Jewish vote for President Donald J. Trump,” RJC CEO Matt Brooks said in a statement on Monday announcing the ad buy.
“Never before have American Jews felt so unsafe,” Brooks continued. “Never before has antisemitism in the United States been so prevalent. Never before has Israel’s survival been so threatened. Never before has there been a candidate for president [Harris] that embraces and defends the antisemitic, anti-Israel ‘Squad.’”
As a result, the RJC is launching the $10 million ad buy opposing Harris, the incumbent US vice president, that will first air during Tuesday night’s presidential debate between Harris and Trump, who served as president from 2017-2021.
The ad seeks to link Harris with members of a group of progressive lawmakers in the US House colloquially known as the “squad” — including Reps. Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. It claims the members of the Squad are “antisemitic” and “anti-Israel” and juxtaposes pro-Hamas protesters chanting in favor of an “intifada revolution” with Harris saying she understands the concerns of the protesters.
The message of the ad is summed up in the RJC’s press release, which argues, “Kamala Harris is no ordinary Democrat. She stands with the Squad, not with us.”
The ad buy comes amid newly announced bad polling news for the RJC. On Monday, the Jewish Democratic Council of America (JDCA) released polling showing that Harris is leading Trump among Jewish voters by a 47-point margin — 72 percent to 25 percent.
“Trump clearly has animus for the overwhelming majority of American Jews. This poll confirms that the feeling is mutual,” said Halie Soifer, CEO of the JDCA. “The data is clear: Jewish Americans do not want a Trump second term. If we get Jewish voters to the polls, we will win in November.”
Harris’s net favorability was found to be 13 points higher among Jewish voters than US President Joe Biden’s was, rising from +25 to +38.
Meanwhile, when prioritizing issues, only 9 percent of American Jews said Israel is their top issue, putting it 10th out of 12 issue options, according to the poll. Among Reform Jews it is ranked last and among Orthodox Jews it is ranked fourth.
The results contradicted a July poll conducted by pollster Richard Baris showed that Jewish voters prefer Harris over Trump by a narrow margin of 52.7 percent to 45.9 percent.
The post Republican Jewish Coalition Announces $10 Million Anti-Harris Ad Buy in Bid to Bolster Trump Support first appeared on Algemeiner.com.