Maccabiah bans athletes from wearing Shalit solidarity ribbons at opening event

By Cnaan Liphshiz
Haaretz
13 July 09

A last-minute effort to show solidarity with Gilad Shalit at the Maccabiah's opening ceremony Monday ended in disappointment for the British and American delegations, after organizers forbade them from wearing yellow ribbons.

Activists working for Shalit's release had suggested that every Maccabiah participant wear a yellow ribbon over one shoulder at the opening ceremony. One activist said she thought the organizers "torpedoed the initiative" because "they didn't want to embarrass the government officials at the ceremony." Organizers denied this.

"The organizers simply don't want to get into politics and they fear the ribbon might be seen by some officials attending as a defiant move," said Ella Hefez from Tel Aviv, who is a member of the committee to free Shalit.

A new epidemic has appeared in recent days. It was a simple show of protest.

A green wristband worn by several members of the Iranian national soccer team during a recent World Cup qualifying match in Seoul to show support for the pro-opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi. But the simple gesture has now reportedly cost these players their spots on the national team. FOX News is reporting four of the players who wore the green tape on their wrists in the qualifying game against South Korea have been banned from the team for life. They have also been banned from giving interviews.

About 8,000 athletes are currently in Israel for the Maccabiah, a Jewish Olympic Games which is held in the country every four years.

The heads of the American and British delegations agreed to support the gesture after U.K.-born Shalit activist Marian Lebor from Ra'anana approached them with the idea. The plan took shape last week. But the organizing committee shot the idea down, citing too short notice.

"With all due respect, we can't take a ceremony that we've worked on for the past two weeks and change it to fit what the Shalit forum wants," said Yaron Michaeli, spokesman for the Maccabiah's organizing committee.
(Activists working for Shalit's release had suggested that every Maccabiah participant wear a yellow ribbon over one shoulder at the opening ceremony. BTW Yaron, the release of Shalit is a consensus issue of close to 100% except evidently the Maccabiah organizers. Maybe the event should be held in a more neutral venue in the future such as Dubai.)

He denied claims the committee was skirting the issue for political reasons, explaining, "Shalit will be mentioned in the welcome speech."

He added: "We can't turn this event into a rally to free Shalit. It's an international sporting event." (Maccabiah, a Jewish Olympic Games which is held in the country every four years.)

Lebor, a freelance journalist, conceded that the idea was filed late in the game. "But that's no reason not to do it," she said. "With a little bit of goodwill, it would have been very easy to achieve."

Hefez, who has overseen television productions, said she offered to have Shalit volunteers pass out the ribbons. "Logistically it was not a problem. This was not the reason this idea was shot down," she said.

That the yellow ribbons will be perceived as a political gesture designed to pressure the prime minister to approve a prisoner exchange "is missing the point completely," Lebor said. "It's meant to make participants think about him and about how we don't even know where he is and how he is doing. That's all," she said.