Olympics 2024: Two flags I refuse to get behind

Stephen Price

From Lady Gaga’s dancer falling into the fetid Seine and controversies over an assumed Last Supper drag set, not to mention a bollock slip and accusations of Celine Dion miming, the Olympic Games began on a bum note for many of us this year.

But even before the big night, many an online commentator questioned the inclusion of Israel at Paris 2024, while Russia and her countryfolk wait it out in the naughty corner.

Just as I’m no huge Eurovision fan, sport and I have a troubled relationship going all the way back to freezing cold valleys rugby pitches and PE teachers that wouldn’t have felt miscast in Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket.

I will, however, always get behind Wales and Welsh athletes at any and every opportunity – which we’ll get back to later.

Hypocrisy

In 2019, Russia was officially banned from the Olympics by the World Anti-Doping Agency for four years, but that ban was shortened to two years after Russia appealed.

For the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, the IOC banned Russia and Belarus from participating due to their involvement related to the war in Ukraine.

Charles Maynes writes: “Just to qualify for these Olympics, Russian athletes needed their politics as clean as their lab samples. Only those who showed no signs of doping or outward support for the war in Ukraine were issued invitations to Paris.

“Back in Russia, the response to those who managed to pass muster and will now compete as neutral athletes has been tepid among some.”

Demanding that the rule applies to all states who behave in such ways, calls continue to be made for Israel to face a similar fate at this year’s event. But these calls continue to fall on deaf ears.

And let’s be clear – this isn’t some he said, she said.

Israel’s war crimes, and Israel’s occupation of Palestinian (not to mention Lebanese and Syrian) territory, and the sheer numbers of civilians killed, are undoubtable, and they continue in plain sight.

Hospitals razed to the ground (then lied about, and forgotten – it’s yesterday’s news after all), drone attacks on starving people seeking aid, families bombed in their tents.

Disease and starvation, fathers carrying the lifeless beheaded bodies of their children.

These images are etched on our brains, and their reporting as binary figures might allow some to sleep better at night, but history will remember those who were in power when the time comes.

Onslaught

Concentrating on just a few events from the past few weeks, the UN human rights office has reported that Palestinian detainees taken by Israeli authorities since October 7 have faced waterboarding, sleep deprivation, electric shocks, the release of dogs, and other forms of torture and mistreatment.

The report on detention says Israel’s prison service held more than 9,400 “security detainees” as of the end of June, and some have been held in secret without access to lawyers or respect for their legal rights.

A summary of the report, based on interviews with former detainees and other sources, decries a “staggering” number of detainees – including men, women, children, journalists and human rights defenders – and said such practices raise concerns about arbitrary detention.

UN human rights chief Volker Turk said: “The testimonies gathered by my office and other entities indicate a range of appalling acts, such as waterboarding and the release of dogs on detainees, amongst other acts, in flagrant violation of international human rights law and international humanitarian law.”

Findings in the report, one of the most extensive of its kind, could be used by International Criminal Court prosecutors who are looking into crimes committed in connection with the October 7 attacks and their aftermath, including Israel’s blistering military campaign that is ongoing in Gaza.

Authors of the report said its content was shared with the Israeli government.

The report says detainees were taken in Gaza, Israel and the West Bank, and says Israel has not provided information regarding the fate or whereabouts of many, adding that the International Committee of the Red Cross has been denied access to facilities where they are held.

The report’s summary said: “Detainees said they were held in cage-like facilities, stripped naked for prolonged periods, wearing only diapers.

“Their testimonies told of prolonged blindfolding, deprivation of food, sleep and water, and being subjected to electric shocks and being burnt with cigarettes.

“Some detainees said dogs were released on them, and others said they were subjected to waterboarding, or that their hands were tied and they were suspended from the ceiling,” it added.

“Some women and men also spoke of sexual and gender-based violence.”

The report also says the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, had also “continued to carry out arbitrary detention and torture or other ill-treatment in the West Bank, reportedly principally to suppress criticism and political opposition”.

On Tuesday, an Israeli military court began an initial hearing for nine soldiers detained over what a defence lawyer said were allegations of sexual abuse of a Palestinian at Sde Teiman – a shadowy facility where Israel has held prisoners from Gaza during the war.

The soldiers’ detention triggered angry protests by supporters demanding their release.

On Wednesday, the military court extended the detention of eight Israeli suspects until Sunday.

Israel’s retaliatory operations since October 7 have obliterated entire neighbourhoods in Gaza and forced some 80% of the population to flee their homes.

Gaza’s health ministry says more than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed, without distinguishing between civilians and combatants in its count.

Occupied territories

Much like Russia’s land grab, the top United Nations court has ruled that Israel’s presence in the Palestinian occupied territories is “unlawful” and called on it to end.

The court pointed to the building and expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and east Jerusalem, its annexation and imposition of permanent control over lands and discriminatory policies against Palestinians.

The International Court of Justice was issuing a non-binding opinion on the legality of Israel’s 57-year occupation of lands sought for a Palestinian state, and the ruling is likely to have more effect on international opinion than it will on Israeli policies.

The court’s panel of 15 judges from around the world said Israel has abused its status as the occupying power in the West Bank and east Jerusalem by carrying out policies of annexing territory, imposing permanent control and building settlements.

It said Israel must end settlement construction immediately.

It said such acts render “Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territory unlawful”.

It says its continued presence was ”illegal” and should be ended as “rapidly as possible”.

Israel, which normally considers the United Nations and international tribunals as unfair and biased, did not send a legal team to the hearings.

But it submitted written comments, saying that the questions put to the court are prejudiced and fail to address Israeli security concerns.

Israeli officials have said the court’s intervention could undermine the peace process, which has been stagnant for more than a decade.

“Grave concern”

In response to the ruling, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the West Bank and east Jerusalem were part of the Jewish people’s historical “homeland”.

“The Jewish people are not conquerors in their own land – not in our eternal capital Jerusalem and not in the land of our ancestors in Judea and Samaria,” he said in a post on the social media platform X.

“No false decision in The Hague will distort this historical truth and likewise the legality of Israeli settlement in all the territories of our homeland cannot be contested.”

In the opinion read out by court president Nawaf Salam, the court found that “the transfer by Israel of settlers to the West Bank and Jerusalem as well as Israel’s maintenance of their presence, is contrary to article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention”.

The court also noted with “grave concern” that Israel’s settlement policy has been expanding.

The court also found that Israel’s use of natural resources was “inconsistent” with its obligations under international law as an occupying power.

In a separate case, the International Court of Justice is considering a South African claim that Israel’s campaign in Gaza amounts to genocide, a claim that Israel vehemently denies.

Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek all three areas for an independent state.

Israel considers the West Bank to be disputed territory, whose future should be decided in negotiations, while it has moved population there in settlements to solidify its hold.

It has annexed east Jerusalem in a move that is not internationally recognised, while it withdrew from Gaza in 2005 but maintained a blockade of the territory after Hamas took power in 2007.

The international community generally considers all three areas to be occupied territory.

At hearings in February, then-Palestinian foreign minister Riad Malki accused Israel of apartheid and urged the United Nations’ top court to declare that Israel’s occupation of lands sought by the Palestinians is illegal and must end immediately and unconditionally for any hope for a two-state future to survive.

Empty words

It is not the first time the ICJ has been asked to give its legal opinion on Israeli policies. Two decades ago, the court ruled that Israel’s West Bank separation barrier was “contrary to international law”.

Israel boycotted those proceedings, saying they were politically motivated.

Israel says the barrier is a security measure. Palestinians say the structure amounts to a massive land grab because it frequently dips into the WestBank.

The UN General Assembly voted by a wide margin in December 2022 to ask the world court for the advisory opinion. Israel vehemently opposed the request that was promoted by the Palestinians. Fifty countries abstained from voting.

Israel has built well over 100 settlements, according to the anti-settlement monitoring group Peace Now. The West Bank settler population has grown by more than 15% in the past five years to more than 500,000 Israelis, according to a pro-settler group.

Israel also has annexed east Jerusalem and considers the entire city to be its capital. An additional 200,000 Israelis live in settlements built in east Jerusalem that Israel considers to be neighbourhoods of its capital.

Palestinian residents of the city face systematic discrimination, making it difficult for them to build new homes or expand existing ones.

The international community considers all settlements to be illegal or obstacles to peace since they are built on lands sought by the Palestinians for their state.

Mr Netanyahu’s hard-line government is dominated by settlers and their political supporters.

Mr Netanyahu has given his finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, a former settler leader, unprecedented authority over settlement policy.

Mr Smotrich has used this position to cement Israel’s control over the WestBank by pushing forward plans to build more settlement homes and to legalise outposts.

And yet Israel continues to play a starring role on the international stage with the full backing of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Russia has quite rightly faced condemnation and consequence.

So why is Israel, whose bloodshed, land grabs and war crimes continue in real time, still allowed to parade her athletes?

And why are other countries with equally appalling human rights records also still in the game?

China’s treatment of the Uyghurs and Tibetans, as just one example, is seemingly no issue for the IOC.

Butcher’s Apron

So back to our Welsh athletes.

A global stage, and yet we operate beneath a flag that our country doesn’t find itself represented on.

I am rooting for any and everyone taking part, of course.

As a small nation, seeing Welsh people succeed is like seeing family members and loved ones do well. Community is in our blood, and we unite beneath y ddraig goch.

The hard work and dedication, the pride, the chance to shine and reach career highs and fame and fortune, it’s all wonderful.

But, in the same way I don’t acknowledge the England Cricket Team, I cannot get behind that flag.

Ever since I can remember, I’ve taken issue with an enforced ‘British’ identity.

I’m Welsh. My ancestors are Welsh as far back as I can go, and if they weren’t, I was born here and it’s the identity and the flag I choose.

I could say that the Union Jack means nothing to me, but it does mean something to me – it offends me, and speaks to me of colonialism, of little Britain, of hoodwinked English identity as a global brand, of assimilation and of bloodshed.

It’s also a flag that played a role in the creation of Israel, at the expense of a people who, like me, can trace their family back to their homeland for centuries.

Only now, unlike me, Palestinians have no home, and a two state solution is looking more hopeless than ever – with America and the UK looking on with admiration, approval, and much needed funding.

Recent events, at home and indeed in the middle east since long before October 7, leave us all in need of the shared joy of sports, of community, of togetherness and success like never before.

But this year, the spirit of the games has been dampened, and I cannot look away from the horror I’m presented with on social media day in, day out, even if the mainstream media chooses to look the other way or spin things to suit the baying crowds, or the agenda of their paymasters.

So, maybe the slipped testicle was an omen, or just a metaphor for this year’s entire event.

This year, I’m out, not that my flag was ever in anyway.

Bollocks to it all.