In 1979, Egypt was the first country in the Arab world to sign a peace treaty and normalize relations with Israel after decades of war.
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The Egyptian judoka noted that he bowed at the beginning of the fight, as is customary, adding that he hadn’t slept well for six days as a result of the pressure that the Egyptian delegation and the Egyptian public had been placing on him.
The judoka’s brother told Israel’s Channel 10 that Sasson was focussed professionally and tactically on the competition. You wanted it and you were capable.
The Egyptian Olympic Committee on Saturday said it will open an investigation into Egyptian Judoka Islam el-Shehaby after he failed to shake the hand of Israeli opponent Or Sasson following his loss on Friday.
In stark contrast to El-Shahaby’s behavior, Riner shook hands warmly with Sasson at the end of the encounter, and whispered some words of congratulation to the Israeli for his performance.
The incident did not go over well in Israel, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanjahu’s spokesman Ofir Gendelman described it as “shocking” in a tweet.
Hisham Hatab, head of the Egyptian Olympic Committee, was quoted by the daily al-Masry al-Youm as saying there will be no withdrawals, adding “Islam will play the match without troubles”. In a Twitter post, he said it “goes against the spirit of Rio 2016”, writing in Arabic said that “sports are not the field for politics and extremism”.
The Daily Mail claim that El Shehaby had come under pressure prior to the fight from “Islamist-leaning and nationalist voices” in Egypt to withdraw from the games.
But even those watching the sport for the first time were amazed by the lack of respect El Shehaby showed Or Sasson. At the quarterfinals of the 2011 judo Grand Slam in Moscow, Egyptian Ramadan Darwish refused to shake hands with Israeli Arik Zeevi.
There have been other incidents involving Muslim athletes refusing to compete against or be around Israeli athletes in Rio.
“Egypt will cry; Egypt will be sad and you will be seen as a traitor and a normalizer in the eyes of your people”.
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Shortly after the bout’s conclusion Friday, 34-year-old el-Shehaby announced his retirement from competition. “We have lost in terms of sports and politics”, Nassar said.
