Israeli athlete makes beheading gesture on camera, sparks widespread outrage, ‘Genocide worn proudly'

Mint

4 days ago

A scandalous video was captured on camera at the U20 European Athletics Championships held between August 7-10 in Tampere, Finland. Just before the men's 4x100-meter relay, Israeli Ido Peretz made an offensive gesture to the cameras. The action has sparked widespread outrage on social media
Minutes before the start of the race, the athlete appeared on screen and made a beheading gesture. According to Yeni Safak, the British commentator's inaction was also captured on camera.
Despite being located in the Middle East, Israel participates in European sports because of political reasons. Israel was barred from the Asian Games in 1978.
Journalist Zohran Mamdani shared the clip on Twitter (now X). He wrote, 'This isn't just bad sportsmanship — it's a reflection of an obsession with violence and genocide worn proudly by some Israeli athletes.'
Social media users slammed the Israeli athlete for the action.
'Israel seems to have a bad culture of violence,' wrote one user.
'Zionists are terrorists. Terrorists are Zionists,' wrote another.
Another user wrote, 'They should have immediately removed him from the race.'
One user remarked, 'Why are these israeli criminals even allowed to participate in international events? it's a f**king shame! instead of blaming the organizers all the time - why are other countries not boycotting events that allow participation of israelis?'
'BAN them and BOYCOTT them from ALL international events,' the user added.
'Their true face is finally shown to the whole world,' commented another.
'An Israeli athlete making a throat-slitting gesture on the world stage says everything about the mindset fueled back home. When genocide is celebrated, even sports become another place to flaunt it. Finishing last was the only decent thing he did that day,' came from another.
The Israeli team finished last in the race while Great Britain and Italy failed to finish.
In the past 24 hours, Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed at least 89 Palestinians, including 31 aid seekers, Al Jazeera reported. Also, 513 have been injured, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
Five more, including two children, died from hunger, raising famine-related deaths to 227, with 103 children. Palestinians buried four Al Jazeera journalists killed by Israel, the publication added.
The EU, China, and Germany condemned the targeted attack while the UN called it a 'grave breach of international humanitarian law'.
Israel's war on Gaza has killed over 61,599 and injured 1,54,088. In Israel, 1,139 people died in the October 7, 2023, attacks. More than 200 were taken captive.