Israeli Olympians try to tune out threats, boos and war

The Manila Times

Israeli Olympians try to tune out threats, boos and war  Israel's biggest ever Olympic team faces a 'tough' environment during the Paris Games, the head of their delegation tells AFP after a week featuring sometimes hostile crowds, online harassment and tragedy back home. Security around the 88-person Israeli team has been exceptionally tight, with elite French police tasked with guarding the athletes around-the-clock and accompanying them every time they leave the Olympic village in northern Paris.  AFP VIDEO  Subscribe to The Manila Times Channel - https://tmt.ph/YTSubscribe  Visit our website at https://www.manilatimes.net    Follow us:  Facebook - https://tmt.ph/facebook  Instagram - https://tmt.ph/instagram  Twitter - https://tmt.ph/twitter  DailyMotion - https://tmt.ph/dailymotion    Subscribe to our Digital Edition - https://tmt.ph/digital    Check out our Podcasts:  Spotify - https://tmt.ph/spotify  Apple Podcasts - https://tmt.ph/applepodcasts  Amazon Music - https://tmt.ph/amazonmusic  Deezer: https://tmt.ph/deezer  Tune In: https://tmt.ph/tunein   #TheManilaTimes  #worldnews  #israel  #Paris2024  #olympics

Transcript

00:00It's been really tough, you know, we are a nation in sorrow, in grief since the 7th

00:12of October. There is no one of us that didn't know, one of his friends or family. I myself

00:18lost five family members in the horrific terror attack on the 7th of October, but many of

00:26our athletes, even the hostages, we have one athlete there, triathlon young athlete, and

00:35many of our athletes were killed or murdered. So it's been, as a citizen of my country,

00:44it's been very tough for all of us. It's for us to be here after such a hard, tough time

00:52we had in Israel since the 7th of October, so to come here with such a big delegation,

00:59good athletes, all of them with criteria, you know, they are in a very good position

01:06in their sports, 15 sports, so this is a big event for us. As I said again, we prepared

01:13our athletes to any kind of provocations. We prepared them in special meetings and

01:22with a special team. The main message that we gave them is that we are here to compete,

01:29to show the Israeli spirit, the real Israeli, the one who loves people, the one who loves

01:37Olympic values, the one who believes that sport is a bridge between people, between

01:44religions, and I'm very satisfied that our athletes can live parallel, you know, they can

01:51take the grief and the sorrow and the problems and even go and help and give inspiration

01:57back home, but also do what they have to do with a lot of mental resilience and,

02:08you know, this is to be Israeli, this is part of being Israeli, to know how to handle

02:14these situations. I think this is a disgrace that instead of concentrating in sports,

02:20they bring politics into, you know, the field of play. I really advise

02:30the athletes and the president, which is unfortunately, you know, a convicted terrorist

02:36and someone who has named competitions in his place after a terrorist, I really advise them

02:49to concentrate in sport. A very nasty provocation because Peter Pacek never

02:54signed on any bomb, he never, he was never there in the field. He took this picture 30 days after

03:017th of October, I assume that none of them and none of the journalists here never felt such a

03:07horrific feeling like Israelis felt after 7th of October. He took a picture from the internet and

03:16he posted it. He never posted, not against Palestinians, not mentioning Gaza. And if

03:22you will see, even the picture that they took from the internet, they cut it where he wrote

03:27Hamas is ISIS. So this is another nasty provocation. We have confidence in the security

03:34here in Paris, of our security, and my role, together with my team, is to give these athletes

03:41the possibility just to concentrate in sport. And this is, you know, the main objective.

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