Israel says athletes getting 'psychological terror' threats at Olympics: 'It's not easy'

PARIS (TND) — Israeli Olympic athletes have received threats during the Paris Games, the country’s team told The Associated Press.

Yael Arad, president of the Israeli National Olympic Committee, claimed the "centralized" threats were meant to stoke “psychological terror” in the athletes.

Israel has received international criticism over its strategy for defeating Hamas. The terrorist group's Oct. 7 attack kicked off a war that reached its 10th month on Wednesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has since ordered airstrikes on Gaza to eliminate Hamas, with parts of the city being destroyed in the process. World leaders like U.S. President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron have called for a ceasefire, while Netanyahu insists on continuing the war until Hamas ceases to exist.

Arad told The Associated Press that Israeli athletes in Paris are focusing on competing, though.

“It’s not easy to be an Israeli athlete in the international arena these days,” she said, adding that the Olympics are a “bridge between people, between countries, between religions.”

We are here to compete,” Arad asserted.

Some spectators at the Paris Olympics have used the games as a platform for their criticism of Israel. During the country’s soccer match against Paraguay, a group of people raised a banner reading, “Genocide Olympics.”

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Tom Reuveny of Israel, who won the gold medal in men’s windsurfing, said during a Tuesday memorial for the 1972 killing of Israeli Olympic athletes that politics should stay out of the Games.

I don’t think any politics should be involved in sport, especially in the Olympic Games,” he told The Associated Press. “Unfortunately, there is a lot of politics involved — not in the Games — of the people who don’t want us to compete and don’t want us to be here. I’ve gotten quite a few messages and threats.”

The memorial honored the victims of the attack by Black September, a Palestinian militant group. Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, said the massacre was the “darkest day” in the history of the games, according to Reuters.

"Everything was shattered with the horrific terrorist attack on the Israeli Olympic team 52 years ago,” Bach added.

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