Michael Balaban's Update on the War in Israel

- Michael Balaban
Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia President and CEO

The Olympic Games are underway in Paris and as I discussed during the Eurovision competition, these kinds of international events should represent worldwide unity and spirited competition. 

Leading into this year’s games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) insisted that this year’s tournament would remain in accordance with rule 50 of the Olympic Charter, a policy that forbids any form of “demonstration or political, religious, or racial propaganda.”

Rule 50 was created in 1975, just three years after the terrorist attack at the Munich Summer Olympics in 1972 where 11 members of the Israeli delegation were murdered by terrorists.

However, this year, Israeli athletes have already received death threats, being sent invitations to their own funerals before the Games even began. At the Opening Ceremonies, the audience loudly booed the Israeli delegation. Last Saturday, protestors held Palestinian flags while shouting “Heil Hitler” at the Israeli men’s soccer team during their match against Paraguay.

And while these protestors were spewing hateful rhetoric at innocent Olympians just trying to play their sport, Hezbollah was bombing a different soccer field: one in Golan Heights, where they killed 12 Druze children.

I mourn the victims of this attack and pray for their families who are now experiencing the unimaginable pain of losing a child. I also pray for the safety of the Israeli athletes living in fear of antisemitic violence.

As the Games continue, I can only urge all the athletes and spectators to demonstrate the level of sportsmanship and respect for their competitors that should be expected of Olympians. Let these Games be a symbol of tolerance and inclusion, the same kind that our Jewish values inspire in us.

We are taught to live with kavod – treating ourselves and others with respect – and recognize b’tzelem elohim – that we are all made in G-d’s image and therefore all deserve basic human rights, including the right to safety. These are values we see in action in Israeli society, in the way that Jews, Druze, Arabs, Moslems, Christians and others coexist together. 

And it is with these values in mind that we will continue to show up with Jewish pride. It is with these values that we recognize the gravity and the horror of the deaths of the 12 Druze children. It is with these values that we will refuse to allow this intimidation to drive us into the shadows, choosing instead to honor their memories by displaying the respect, tolerance and inclusion that we – and everyone – are deserving of.

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