Political Memes

Ok. Cool. Let’s read the article together shall we?

At Israel’s soccer opener, the Olympic spirit never felt so distant

PARIS — The match couldn’t happen until armed guards escorted the Israelis to the grounds.

Not until Police Nationale patted down every spectator before they entered Parc des Princes stadium. Not until cops on horses patrolled the perimeter and even more on motorbikes honked cyclists out of their way. Certainly not until the gendarmerie — several clutching weapons that seemed more appropriate for battlefields than the boulevards of Paris — made it clear that this meeting between Israel and Mali would not be a normal Olympic soccer match.

And then, this event could not happen until the national anthems blared inside the open-air stadium, echoing into the night. After Mali’s national song played, the Israeli anthem began. So did the jeers. That’s when a group made its presence known. A group that occupied a front row of the stands because its members saw this Olympic soccer match as an attempt to whitewash the brutality of war. Each person in the group wore a white T-shirt with a single letter written boldly in black. When they stood together, their shirts spelled out “FREE PALESTINE.” Israel’s song played on; those in attendance who held up their white-and-blue flags with the Star of David just sang louder.

When a peloton of police, men and women packing assault rifles and pro-Palestine protesters all show up to a soccer stadium, the Olympic spirit of unity seems distant, almost imagined. The games just feel like 90 minutes of distraction. The numbing effect prescribed because the volume of voices has only gotten louder since Hamas and other militant groups committed war crimes against Israeli civilians and since Israel’s response has drawn condemnation from the top court of the United Nations.

Despite the war in Gaza, they played soccer here. In the first half, a small crew of people in front of the media area brought out their Palestine flags. A man wore a yellow sticker with a phrase that translated to: “Genocide is not a sport ... Boycott Israel at the Paris Olympics!” Men in purple and black “Securite” vests quickly appeared and told him to remove the sticker. Later, when Mali defender Hamidou Diallo kicked the ball into his own net, several Israel fans turned and cheered in the direction of the group that had sneaked their Palestinian flags past security. When Cheickna Doumbia scored the equalizer, those fans jumped and screamed for Mali. Every chant, every celebration, every expression of passion seemed to be about more than soccer.

The day before this match, a large group of anti-Israel protesters gathered in the Place de Clichy neighborhood, near a bookstore and a fast food place that featured a life-size image of former NBA star Tony Parker promoting “Le French Burgers.” A woman with white hair held the megaphone. As she spoke, a parade of women with somber faces pushed strollers that were all but empty, except for a photo of a dead or injured child.

For those protesters, they do not see Liel Abada as the promising young forward. Nor the player who left his Scottish-based team for Charlotte FC after some Celtic fans demonstrated, holding a pro-Palestine banner at a home match. Because Abada was born in the central region of Israel and plays on the national team, they view him solely as a potential recruit for the Israel Defense Forces and a reason all those strollers are empty. (The country requires every citizen over 18 to serve in its army.)

“We’ve been protesting every day for four weeks now,” said Soufiane M., a protester who requested to use only his first name after one of the organizers noticed he was giving an interview to a reporter. “Despite all of this, we still have the presence of all the Israel athletes here in France. And we have to be aware that in Israel, military service is mandatory. So all these athletes are also part of the IDF, they’re also part of the genocide happening now in Gaza, and this is what we’re fighting for.”

Abada arrived at Parc des Princes under heightened security. He heard the booing during his country’s anthem. If he happened to gaze behind his team’s sideline and into the crowd, he would have noticed the presence of Palestine flags — and even a watermelon floatie, a nod to the popular symbol of pro-Palestinian protesters. Yet, Abada said he’s centered on just the games.

“We don’t look about what’s going on outside in the stadium; we just want to play our football and to make our fans and our people in Israel proud,” Abada said. “We came here just to play football. The team staff speaks with us a lot about it, and we just need to be focused on football and that’s it.”

The Opening Ceremonies aren’t until Friday night. Still, the Games didn’t need an official start before the geopolitical conflicts crashed the gates of the party. Every time the Israeli national team takes the field or a Palestinian athlete wears their national colors or a Russian or Belarusian competitor stands under a neutral flag, we’ll be reminded how the world doesn’t stop burning simply because we have lit the Olympic flame.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/2024/07/25/israel-olympics-soccer-mali-protesters/

The Washington Post is shit. I will not argue against that. But next time let’s read the article and reflect on what we read. Neither you nor the OP you took this from read it. The only shite I’m seeing is the author calling Hamas out on its crimes but Israel only got under criticism? Ok fair enough. That’s bullshit.

But the overall article and especially its closing lines are beautifully depressing and reflect the feeling a lot of us have right now. Weltschmerz.