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Israel Claims Killing of Militant Leader as Funerals Are Held for 2 Others [1]
['Aaron Boxerman', 'Farnaz Fassihi', 'Qasim Nauman', 'Michael D. Shear', 'Ephrat Livni', 'Anjana Sankar', 'Anushka Patil', 'Katie Rogers', 'Euan Ward', 'Johnatan Reiss']
Date: 2024-08-01
Security officers before a soccer game last week at the Olympics in Paris.
Israeli athletes who had already been moving around the Paris Games with a security apparatus befitting a head of state can expect heightened protection after the recent assassinations of Hezbollah and Hamas leaders caused security officials to fear for the athletes’ safety.
On Saturday, a rocket from Lebanon hit a soccer field in Majdal Shams, an Arab Druse village in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights. Israel blamed the deadly rocket attack on Hezbollah, which denied responsibility. On Tuesday, an Israeli airstrike killed a Hezbollah commander near Beirut, the Lebanese capital, in retaliation.
The tension in the region intensified on Wednesday morning, when Hamas and Iran accused Israel of assassinating Ismail Haniyeh, one of the most senior Hamas leaders. Israel has not addressed the killing.
“There’s no doubt that an attack by Hezbollah, which knows and is capable of operating abroad, should increase the level of security provided to the delegation,” Shmulik Philosof, a former head of a Shin Bet unit that was responsible for securing Israeli delegations, said of the Israeli team now competing in the summer Olympics.
Concerns for the Israeli team — which has been shrouded in protection at every Games since 11 of its athletes and coaches were killed at the Munich Olympics in 1972 — have substantially increased since the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks, the subsequent war in Gaza, global protests and continuing threats.
Before traveling to Paris, Israeli athletes reported receiving anonymous emails that threatened, “we intend to repeat the events of Munich 1972.”
Mark Adams, a spokesman for the International Olympic Committee, would not comment on whether security had been augmented Wednesday for the Israeli team. “Rest assured there is very good, very strong security,” he said.
The French authorities have dedicated a special team to protect the Israeli delegation, according to Mr. Philosof, as host countries have done in previous Olympics. But, he added, “our policy is not to rely solely on local security anywhere, ever.”
Israel is one of the few nations that rely on its own security operation to supplement the security provided by the Olympic host country. Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic security agency, spent two years preparing the plan for the Paris Olympics, a process that included numerous meetings between agency officials and their French counterparts, according to two former Shin Bet senior officers. In early June, Israel’s culture and sports minister, Miki Zohar, said the delegation’s security budget had increased by 50 percent.
Image An Israeli fan at the Olympics in Paris. Credit... James Hill for The New York Times
Israeli athletes had already been preparing for an abnormal Olympic experience. They expected their time at the Games to be marked as much by protests, heavy security, intense scrutiny and questions around politics and the war raging in Gaza as their own competitions.
“It’s a bummer, but it is what it is,” Maor Tiyouri, an Israeli marathoner, said before she arrived in Paris.
Ms. Tiyouri, who also ran the marathon at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, has competed internationally since she was 16. Now 33, she doesn’t wear any national gear when she travels, she said, and has taped over the Israeli flag on her national team backpack.
“It’s always been this way,” Ms. Tiyouri, said, adding, “It’s hard but that’s just the reality of things, and if that means I’m more safe, then that’s what I’m going to do.”
It’s not so different for Anat Lelior, an Israeli surfer, who has reached the round of 16 in the women’s event. Representing Israel is “nowadays a lot different,” she said from Teahupo’o, Tahiti, where the surfing competition is being held. “I don’t go around saying I’m Israeli as much as I have, just for my safety.”
Israeli athletes have been instructed to not engage in protests or discussions, or to share their own opinions about the war, regardless of what they may be. Being asked to censor themselves is exhausting yet expected, many say. The athletes said they felt that to many, they were a flag — not a person or athlete with their own beliefs or political views but a repository for anger or frustration.
There have been some strained interactions among athletes. Adam Maraana, a 100-meter backstroke swimmer and the first Israeli-Arab to represent Israel since 1976, tried to swap pins with Algerian athletes but was turned away, he said. (Pin trading is a tradition at the Olympic Games. Countries, sports and brands make special Olympic pins, and athletes flash their finds along their identification lanyards.)
“I do understand it’s their choice, but it’s a little bit disappointing,” Maraana said.
Still, athletes are clinging to the joy of participating in the Olympics.
Itamar Einhorn, a soft-spoken Israeli cyclist competing in his first Olympics, has worked to balance the emotions and complexities that come with representing Israel with the fulfillment of a childhood dream.
News back home affects him a lot of the time. But, he said, with a sigh, “This is a very special experience.”
[END]
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[1] Url:
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/08/01/world/israel-hamas-iran-haniyeh-gaza
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