Olympics: Lebanese team refuses to ride bus with Israeli team

This report from the BBC is confirmed by first hand accounts from not only the Israeli team, but from the hateful Lebanese team as well. More on the Lebanese reaction in a moment.  Here are the basics from BBC:

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Lebanese athletes refused to share a bus with the Israel team to get to Friday’s Rio Olympic Games opening ceremony, members of both teams said.

Lebanon and Israel are officially at war and have no diplomatic relations.

The incident happened as the Lebanon team sat on the bus waiting to head to the Maracana stadium, before demanding the Israeli athletes must not board.

The Israeli team refused to be bullied and they boarded the bus heading for the Kumbaya, world peace ceremonies.

Udi Gal, from the Israeli sailing team shared the story on Facebook:

 

Translation (via Facebook):  2016 Olympics…. Shame!! The Olympic Committee of Israel getting ready to board the bus for the opening ceremony. Out the bus is in collaboration with team Lebanon. Members of team Lebanon, once they realized they along with Israel National Head of the delegation, LED by their own, out of the driver and demanded to close the door. The organizers tried to us other buses. Whatever possible security wyyẕwgyţ. I insisted we go up to the bus whţʻqşnw designated and Lebanese. Not want they are welcome to come down. The bus driver open the door but this time Lebanese delegation head body blocked the passage entrance.
The organizers tried to prevent an incident international and physical and sent us a special ride.
The incident had happened… shame!!
How could they let this happen and another on the eve of the opening of the Olympic games? Isn’t this the opposite of what şhʼwlympyʼdh represents intuition, whplywţ effects against such?!
I can’t describe my feeling… I’m upset from the marketplace!!

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Which brings us to the confirmation from the Lebanese team. According to AFP, the head of the Lebanese team, Salim al-Haj Nicolas, saw the Israeli team approaching and he jumped up and demanded that the door be closed.

“But the Israeli athletes insisted on getting on,” he told AFP.

Don’t you love the shameless, hateful tone in that statement from al-Haj Nichols? He might as well be saying, “Those uppity Jews ‘insisted on getting on’ even though the door to the bus was being slammed in their face.  Who the hell do these Israelis think they are? ”

Gal went back to his Facebook page after the initial account went viral earlier this morning to say:

This shameful incident has only motivated us. The Olympic spirit is the most important thing and we’re here to protect it and carry it with pride.

Shabbat Shalom and best of luck to all the athletes.

I sat through the interminable opening ceremonies from Rio Friday night. It was laden with climate change propaganda and self-righteous proclamations about world peace and tolerance and understanding.

It’s important to keep in mind that there is, indeed, a whole lot of intolerance and hostility out there… and much of it seems to stem from nations that all have the same thing in common. They embrace an evil ideology (or at the very least display a shocking and disturbing tolerance for that intolerant ideology) and they all hate free nations like Israel and the United States.

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Ed Morrissey 10:00 PM | November 20, 2024
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