Middle East politics once again affected the Olympic games as a defeated Egyptian Judoka refused to shake hands with his Israeli opponent on Friday at the Rio Olympics.
Sasson of Israel defeated El Shehaby of Egypt by throwing him twice. The Egyptian athlete is a an ultraconservative Salafi and had been threatened by local Egyptian media to not participate in the match.
“You will shame Islam,” wrote one angry follower. “If you lose, you will shame an entire nation and yourself. We don’t want to think what will happen if you lost to an Israeli. Victory will give you nothing. How can you cooperate with a murderous nation?”
El Shehaby, who is known for his extreme anti-Israel views, told Egyptian media outlets that he would make his decision closer to the fight. “The situation is very sensitive,” he said. “And I don’t want to discuss it.
The Egyptian made the decision to participate and he did indeed, lose.
After the Israeli Judoka was declared the winner, he stretched out his hand to the Egyptian athlete, who refused it and walked away shaking his head, leading to boos ringing out around the arena.
The referee called back El Shehaby to force him to bow, as is customary in Judo. The Egyptian noded his head and left.
Both Judokas refused to comment.
Sasson lost to Champion Teddy Riner of France but ended up taking the third place for a bronze medal.
The state of war between both countries which dated back to the 1948 Arab–Israeli War culminated in the Yom Kippur War in 1973, and was followed by the 1979 Egyptian–Israeli Peace Treaty a year after the Camp David Accords, mediated by US president Jimmy Carter. Full diplomatic relations were established on February 26, 1980. Egypt has an embassy in Tel Aviv and a consulate in Eilat. Israel has an embassy in Cairo and a consulate in Alexandria.
