A French hard-left MP sparked a political row Sunday by saying Israeli athletes were not welcome at the Paris Olympics because of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, which one senior minister said had "hints of anti-Semitism".In a post on X, Arfi branded Portes's comments "irresponsible" and accused him of "legitimising Hamas", the Palestinian militant group whose October 7 attacks on Israel sparked the Gaza war.
It’s not about offending. It’s about stereotyping and prejudging people.
It’s very easy to go from Russia/ Israel does bad things so the Russians/ Israelis aren’t welcome, to xenophobic hatred of all Russians/ Israelis.
It’s a fine line to balance because obviously, being Russian/ Israeli associates you with the actions of your country, and a certain percentage of the population in those countries will agree with their government’s policies. But not all of them do, and to make general sweeping statements like none are welcome leads you close to the xenophobia that those opposed to Russia/ Israel tend to condemn.
In WW2 America rounded up and imprisoned loads of Japanese-Americans, regardless of whether they supported Japan or had any evidence of them aiding Japan. This has generally been viewed as a bad thing done to innocent people. Rhetoric like this could lead to a similar situation.
People are people. Some good, some bad. Some perform shitty actions on purpose, some perform shitty actions through ignorance, and some oppose shitty actions. But where someone is born doesn’t determine if they’re shitty or not, so sweeping statements like “Israelis are not welcome” gets far too close to xenophobia for some people’s liking.
Obviously, what Russia and Israel are doing is awful and must be condemned, but a bit of casual xenophobia isn’t going to do anything to stop them. Official blocks of official teams would do far more to hinder them and their image of acceptance in the international community than blocking their citizens from spectating.