IOC: Anti-Semitism is OKAY!

An Iranian was scheduled to face an Israeli in the first round of the judo competition, so he quit and forfeited the match instead. This is a low key story and hardly makes the press. If it was the other way around, would there be this outrage? The IOC is waffling about trying to ignore it. Reuters gives the story a pro-Arab spin, especially the first sentence. There is no mention of anti-Semitism or anyone’s outrage.

ATHENS (Reuters) - Iran has defied the Olympic spirit of sport without frontiers by refusing a judo fight against an Israeli at the Athens Games, insisting on putting political solidarity with the Palestinians before gold medals….Sidelined judoka Miresmaeili was quoted by Iran's official news agency IRNA as saying he "refused to face my Israeli rival in sympathy with the oppressed Palestinian people". But shunned Israeli opponent Ehud Vaks told Israeli Army radio he felt sure Mirasmaeili had no choice, and in Tehran a spokeswoman for Iran's Olympic committee said he was told to pull out, in line with national policy toward Israel. Iran's President Mohammad Khatami also left no doubt about the reasons behind the pullout, saying Miresmaeili's action should be "recorded in the history of Iranian glories". Among those lamenting the blight was spokesman Yaron Michaeli, who said the Israeli team "are sorry for the athlete because he is very good and could have won a gold medal". Reuters