Israel, Lebanon bus incident addressed by IOC
An incident that took place between representatives and athletes from Israel and Lebanon prior to Friday night’s opening ceremony at the Olympics has been addressed by the International Olympic Committee.
The Lebanon Olympic team reportedly refused to allow Israeli athletes to board the same bus as them before the Games officially began in Rio. That led Gili Lusting, the head of Israeli’s Olympic team, to blast Lebanon for the alleged anti-Semitic act.
“The organizing committee saw the blunt behavior of the head of the Lebanese delegation and immediately arranged a different bus for us,” Lusting told The Associated Press. “The behavior of the head of the Lebanese delegation contradicts the Olympic Charter.”
Former Olympic sailor Udi Gal, who sailed for Israel in two Summer Olympics, took to Facebook over the weekend and unloaded on the Lebanese team.
“How can it be that something like this occurs on the eve of the Olympic opening ceremony?” Gal wrote in a post that was translated by Yahoo. “Does this not directly oppose what the Olympics represent and stand for. … I cannot begin to express my feelings. I’m in shock from the incident.”
Lebanese delegation leader Salim al-Haj Nakoula actually admitted to stopping Israeli players from boarding the bus, but he described the incident as a “small problem.”
“I asked the bus driver to close the door but the guide with the Israeli team prevented him from doing so,” al-Haj Nakoula told Lebanese newspaper An-Nahar. “I then stood at the door of the bus to prevent the Israel team from entering and some of them tried to go in and pick up a fight.”
Lebanon and Israel are at war and have not had diplomatic relations for several years. IOC officials told TMZ on Monday that they have looked into the matter and consider it closed.
