International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach stressed his organization’s neutrality on Tuesday after studying a Palestinian call for a ban on Israel over the war in Gaza, three days before the official start of the Summer Games in Paris.
While the Israeli delegation settled in the athletes’ village in the French capital, the International Committee studied a letter from the Palestinian Olympic Committee demanding the immediate exclusion of Israel due to the violation of the Olympic truce and the current war in Gaza.
In a letter sent Monday, the Palestine Olympic Committee noted that it comes “after months of information being provided by various Palestinian sports bodies regarding the systematic and ongoing violations of the Olympic Charter and FIFA regulations committed by Israeli sports bodies and their members, including the Olympic Committee and the Israel Football Association.”
She added that the violations included “their involvement in illegal settler colonial occupation and annexation of land, in addition to incitement to genocide, among other points that have been made clear on previous occasions.”
Regarding the violation of the Olympic truce, the letter referred to “the UN General Assembly resolution on the Paris 2024 Olympics on an Olympic truce from 19 July to 15 September 2024, to ensure a peaceful environment for the competitions. However, Israel violated this truce within the first 24 hours by launching raids on Gaza, resulting in civilian casualties.”
But Bach told a news conference: “The IOC’s position is very clear. We have two national Olympic committees, and that is the difference with the world of politics. In this respect, there is peaceful coexistence.”
“The Palestinian Olympic Committee has benefited greatly,” the former fencing champion added. “Palestine is not a recognized state in the United Nations, but the Palestinian Olympic Committee has equal rights and opportunities like other national Olympic committees.”
“We are not in politics, we are here to accomplish our mission of bringing athletes together,” he continued.
Amid calls to stop Israel, like Russia, which is waging war on Ukraine, Bach reiterated that the two cases “cannot be compared.”
The Israeli delegation was surrounded by important security protocols at the Paris Olympics due to the tensions around the world resulting from the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which broke out since October 7.