Leader: Athletes who refused to face Israel vindicated
Leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei hailed those athletes who expressed their support for Palestine and the Palestinian cause and withdrew from competing with the occupying regime’s representatives in international tournaments, saying the veracity of their act is now manifested more than ever before in the wake of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Ayatollah Khamenei made the remarks in a meeting with a group of Iranian athletes, sports personalities, and medal winners who participated in the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, Press TV reported.
“Today, the whole world has realized why the Iranian athlete will not agree to face the Zionist side on the field,” the Leader said, adding that Israeli athletes are competing for a terrorist and criminal regime. He maintained on Wednesday that Israel was “knocked out” in Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, the largest military operation by Palestinian resistance groups against the occupying regime.
“[The Palestinian resistance movement] Hamas, not as a government or country with ample facilities but as a combatant group, managed to deal a knockout blow to the usurping Zionists with all their facilities.”
Stressing that the Israeli regime is still reeling from the burden and disgrace of a heavy defeat after Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, the Leader said, “Their show of power has no value when it is done to the hospitals, schools, and the homeless people in Gaza.”
Ayatollah Khamenei added, “It’s as if an athlete loses on the field, and then in revenge for that loss, he attacks the fans of the opposing team, insults them, and beats them up.”
Elsewhere in his address, the Leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution censured the politicization of sports and the double-standard approach by certain international organizations.
“They say sports are not political, but when they need to politicize sports, they politicize it in the worst way. At the slightest excuse, a country is banned from participating in all international sports events,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.
The Leader stressed that they ban a country on the pretext of war while ignoring another country’s war, war crimes, and even genocide.
Pointing to Israel’s incessant shelling of Gaza over the past 48 days, the Leader said, “There is nothing more ignominious than what the Zionist regime has perpetrated. The Zionist regime’s heavy defeat will not be compensated by these bombings. Such bombardment campaigns will only shorten the life of the occupying regime, [and] this tyranny and cruelty will not go unanswered.”