The Israel Gymnastics Federation said Saturday that it was appealing Indonesia’s decision to block the country’s gymnasts from competing in a world championship, calling the move by the world’s largest Muslim-majority country “outrageous.”
The Southeast Asian nation, which recently hinted at a thaw in its relationship with Israel, said Friday that it had denied visas to Israeli gymnasts amid an outcry over the war against Hamas in Gaza, costing Israeli athletes a spot in this month’s World Artistic Gymnastics Championship in Jakarta.
In an emailed statement late on Saturday, the Israeli federation called Indonesia’s decision “both outrageous and deeply troubling for the integrity of international sport.”
It said it had submitted an urgent appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, seeking an injunction to allow Israeli athletes, including Olympic gold medalist Artem Dolgopyat, to participate in the competition.
“We intend to challenge this decision with every means available,” the group said.
In explaining its decision to bar the athletes, Indonesia, which has no formal diplomatic ties with Israel, cited objections from groups such as a council of Islamic clerics and the local government in the capital Jakarta, where the championship will be held from October 19.
Indonesia’s senior minister of law, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, has also said the decision was in line with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s previous directives on various occasions, and most recently in his speech at the UN General Assembly, which strongly condemned Israel for the war in Gaza. In that same speech, Subianto also said the world must respect Israel’s right to live in security, and he signed off with the Hebrew word for peace, “Shalom.”
The gymnastics spat is the latest example of how the global backlash against Israel over the war, which was sparked by the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, has spread into the arenas of sports and culture. Israel’s critics say it should be sidelined from international events just like Russia has been since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The cycling team, Israel Premier Tech, announced Monday it was changing its name and moving away from its national identity after being excluded from a race in Italy over concerns about pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protests, and less than a month after the Spanish Vuelta was repeatedly disrupted by protests against the team.
In soccer, Israel’s World Cup qualifying match against Italy next week is expected to attract more pro-Palestinian protesters outside the stadium in Udine than ticket-holding spectators inside the arena. Norway beat Israel 5-0 in a World Cup qualifier soccer match in Oslo on Saturday that was overshadowed by anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian protests inside and outside the stadium.
Indonesia was stripped of hosting rights for soccer’s Under-20 World Cup in 2023, only two months before the start of the tournament, amid political turmoil regarding Israel’s participation.
Indonesia has drawn a clear line for decades. Since the 1962 Asian Games when Israel and Taiwan were excluded from the event in Jakarta, the country has maintained a consistent refusal to host Israeli delegations.