Sports fans in Israel were disappointed – and rightly so – by the lack of an unequivocal and decisive condemnation of the Hamas attack on the Gaza envelope on 7 October by most international sports organizations, but it seems that the apathy on the part of world sports bodies pales in comparison to the reactions prevalent in sports circles in Russia.
Most Russian athletes pretended that nothing had happened, choosing not to comment on the terrible massacre. Their silence continues to this day. In contrast, Russian athletes of Muslim origin compete with each other in the severity of the accusations against Israel. Wrestler and UFC fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov, one of the most vocal and famous of them, has openly sided with Hamas and compared Israel's war on a terrorist organization to "genocide."
Nurmagomedov has a social media presence (his Instagram page alone boasts 36 million followers), and he uses it to add more and more fuel to the fire of hatred. One of his recent posts shares a video clip of an Islamic preacher calling for curses and punishments to be poured on Zionist leaders. If you were wondering how he responded to the massacre of Hamas terrorists on 7 October, his response amounted to words of praise for Allah and the publication of the PLO flag.
As expected, Nurmagomedov's anti-Semitic line was shared mainly among athletes from Russia's North Caucasus regions. Islam Makhachev, considered the heir to a favorite in the wrestling world, sent a message of solidarity with Gazans and drew criticism from other Russian athletes, who wondered why he was not similarly defending his native Russia's war in Ukraine.
Bach (left). Not loved by Russia, photo: AFP
Mahmoud Magomedov, also a wrestler from Dagestan and European wrestling champion, even dared to come to the defense of the rioting mob that sought to lynch the passengers on the flight from Israel and took over the airport of Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan. None of the heads of Russian sports came out against Nurmagomedov, Makhachev and Magomedov.
The silence of the Russian sports elite regarding the events in Israel was suddenly broken in early November. It was not the picture of the terrorists' crimes that brought the Russian functionaries out of their peace, but the announcement by the International Olympic Committee, which called on the global sports family not to discriminate or boycott athletes from Israel and warned of the serious consequences of discrimination and boycotts.
The Russian sports world exploded at this declaration and jumped on it as a source of great spoils, in a clear attempt to harness the Israeli disaster to its needs. If it is forbidden to boycott Israeli athletes in the wake of Israel's war in Gaza, why is it permissible to boycott Russian athletes in the wake of the war in Ukraine, Russian sports people of all ranks wondered, as if there was no difference between Israel's defensive war against terrorism and Russia's aggression against its neighbor.
Makhachev. Support Gazans, photo: AFP
Former sports stars who serve in the Russian parliament were quick to accuse the International Olympic Committee of double standards, claiming that Israel is discriminated against. Others called IOC chairman Thomas Bach a "clown" and mentioned his German origins, alluding to his "successor and successor to the organizers of the 1936 Berlin Olympics."
Even the publication of the clarification by the Olympic Committee, according to which the measures against Russia were taken because it attacked Ukraine in the midst of the Olympic Games, did not convince the Russians, who did not want to be convinced in the first place.
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Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova went so far as to publicly define the distinction in international sports' attitude toward Israel and Russia as "Nazism." It did not target Hamas with this terrible expression, but – surprisingly – at those who sought to protect Israelis from boycott and expulsion.
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