The Gaza aggression and the Ukraine war are “different” ,The Olympic Committee protects the Israelis and will not punish Israel

A senior official at the International Olympic Committee said on Friday that there is no intention to impose sanctions on Israel before the Olympic Games in Paris due to its aggression against Gaza.

Belgian Pierre-Olivier Bakers-Veujean, head of the International Olympic Committee's coordination committee for Paris 2024, said that the aggression on Gaza and the Russian war in Ukraine, which caused Moscow's membership to be suspended by the Olympic Committee, are "two different situations."

"It is out of the question to imagine imposing sanctions (on Israel) at the present time," Bickers-Veugan said at the end of a three-day visit to the French capital.

He added, "The reasons that prompted the International Olympic Committee to punish Russia in the beginning and then the Russian Olympic Committee are very specific."

He continued, "Russia and the Russian Olympic Committee have undermined essential parts of the Olympic Charter."

He added, "This is not the case for the Palestinian Olympic Committee, nor the Israeli Olympic Committee, which coexist in peace together. It is quite clear that these two situations are different."

Four days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the International Olympic Committee urged all international sports federations to exclude Russian and Belarusian athletes from their competitions and cancel sporting events intended to be held in Russia.

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach subsequently said Russia had violated the Olympic Charter and the "Olympic Truce" with its invasion.

Russian and Belarusian athletes have the right to participate in the Paris Olympics this year in a neutral capacity, with the exception of team sports, as long as they do not support the war on Ukraine.

Some Palestinian activists, in addition to a group of left-wing French representatives, called for sanctions to be imposed on Israel by the International Olympic Committee because of the Israeli war on Gaza, which resulted in the martyrdom of about 31,000 people, most of them women and children.

Bach said - this week - that Israeli athletes will receive special protection during the Paris Games.

He said in statements, "He will take measures. Israelis must feel comfortable during the Games. Everyone must be treated equally, whether in the Olympic Village or anywhere else."