Yes, this from Jewish Newspaper, Haaretz: “Today’s Israel has the most destructive government”
Sportswashing: How Netanyahu Used the Olympics to Distract Us From the Gaza War
The Olympic Games in France were a wonderful celebration of human spirit. But while athletes have to fight each other in order to win medals, throughout history there were several cases in which they also used the Olympic platform and fought the cynical use of sport as the “bread and circuses” for the masses or to “whitewash” dark and murderous regimes. This tradition of whitewashing is now being used by Israel’s regime. We must oppose it.
At the 1936 Berlin games, which were used by the Nazi regime for propaganda, it was amazing American Jesse Owens who embarrassed Adolf Hitler, who sat in the stands. Sprinters Tommy Smith and John Carlos stood on the Olympic podium in Mexico City in 1968 and raised their fists in protest over the repression of Blacks in their own country.
Today’s Israel has the most destructive government in the country’s history. Following October 7, the government’s military operations continue to cost the lives of tens of thousands of Gazans and Palestinians in the West Bank. McCarthysim on steroids has brought Israel to its worst state ever, both externally and internally.
Similarly to Argentina, the Israeli government has been handed a precious gift. Our wonderful athletes have achieved Israel’s greatest success ever in the games and so began the cynical use of those achievements to raise the “national morale,” which is at a nadir. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists on speaking in the name of the people of Israel: “You’re golden,” he wrote to the winners. “You fought like lions and have brought us a great deal of honor.” Alongside him, a junior Knesset member from Likud, Eli Dallal, wrote to the winners that because of them, they will play the national anthem and we will be inspired.
Dallal, similar to his patron Netanyahu and others, think the use of sporting achievements will provide this evil government with a little bit more breathing room. The filthy air this government breathes is based on the exploitation of every accomplishment that it is not responsible for, for the purpose of making us forget about the hostages, the thousands of refugees in their own land and the dehumanization of the Palestinians.
One thing is comforting in all this: If even darker and more evil governments have come to their end, then one day this government, too, will be thrown onto the garbage heap of history. We can only hope it will be sooner rather than later.
Another, no less important source of comfort would be if these athletes protested against their exploitation. Even if only for the good of the hostages, whom the government has abandoned in favor of its own survival.
