AS I SEE IT COLUMN: Israel should be banned from the Olympics

On May 27, 2025, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced it is continuing its ban on Russians competing in the Olympics because of their illegal war in Ukraine.

At press time three Israeli athletes – two alpine skiers and a figure skater – have qualified for next year’s Winter Olympics in Italy, and if there is any fairness or justice left in this world, the IOC needs to show ethical consistency and ban Israel from competing in the Olympics because of its illegal war in Gaza.

It’s difficult to understand why the IOC punishes Russia for its war but so far has decided not to punish Israel for its war, which is an unimaginably more brutal war.

The war in Ukraine is kind of, sort of, equal. There is nothing equal about the war in Gaza. It’s a provably lopsided, grotesquely disproportionate war. How else to describe a war with 1,200 dead on one side and more than 50,000 dead on the other side? A war suggests both combatants have a chance of winning. Keep in mind that Palestine doesn’t have a single jet fighter, not one tank, no submarines, helicopters or warships. What’s happening in Gaza isn’t war; it’s premeditated ethnic cleansing.

Which is why the IOC must bar all Israelis from all Olympics.

As awful as the situation in Ukraine is, it is exponentially worse in Gaza. The International Red Cross describes Israel’s war in Gaza as, “surpassing any acceptable legal, moral and humane standard. The level of destruction, the level of suffering… It should shock our collective conscience.”

The International Court of Justice calls the horrific situation in Gaza “plausible genocide.” Genocide, as defined by international law, is the intentional destruction of a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group, in whole or in part.

That is precisely what is happening to the Palestinians in Gaza and why the IOC must act.

The International Criminal Court has an arrest warrant out for Israeli President Netanyahu for crimes against humanity and war crimes, including blocking humanitarian aid, targeting the civilian population, and for “failure to facilitate relief by all means possible.”

International agencies say the catastrophic situation in Gaza is so dire that 500,000 Palestinians are currently facing starvation and that all 2.1 million people living in Gaza will experience a famine if the Israeli blockade of aid continues.

The grisly facts make it clear that the IOC must be consistent and bar Israel from the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy and the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. They can rejoin the Olympics once their barbaric war in Gaza ends, just like the IOC has said Russia can rejoin the Olympic family once it ends the war in Ukraine.

While most of the world is aghast at Israel’s systematic eradication of Gaza and its citizens, there are some people who blindly support Israel’s actions because of a warped notion of proportionality. Their thinking – if you can call it that – goes something like this: Because Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis, it is proportional and justified for Israel to kill 50,000 Palestinians (and counting), including 30,000 children and women.

A child in grade three would understand that such a disproportionate amount of death is morally abhorrent, that there is no ethical universe where that kind of a wildly unequal death toll is justified and that a Palestinian life should be just as valuable as an Israeli life.

Does the IOC understand that fundamental reality?

The IOC wants to use sport to foster international peace. That is a noble gesture only if it hands out punishment on an equal, morally consistent basis. If their goal truly is peace through sport, the IOC should be consistent and ban Israel from the Olympic movement exactly like it has banned Russia.

If the IOC doesn’t ban Israel, if it punishes Russia for its war in Ukraine but rewards Israel for its war in Gaza, any rational person has to ask the obvious question: why the inhumane and inexplicable double standard?