IOC, Macron reject Israel boycott call at Paris Olympics

PARIS: The head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and French President Emmanuel Macron rejected Tuesday a Palestinian demand that Israel be barred from the Paris Games over the war in Gaza.

As the Israeli team settled into the Athletes’ Village, the IOC studied a letter from the Palestine Olympic Committee asking for a ban on Israel, citing the bombings of the besieged Gaza Strip as a breach of the Olympic truce.

The letter, sent days before Friday’s opening ceremony, “emphasised that Palestinian athletes, particularly those in Gaza, are denied safe passage and have suffered significantly due to the ongoing conflict”.

It said “approximately 400 Palestinian athletes have been killed and the destruction of sports facilities exacerbates the plight of athletes who are already under severe restrictions”.

But IOC president Thomas Bach indicated that he would not be drawn into “political business”.

He added: “The position of the IOC is very clear. We have two National Olympic Committees, that is the difference with the world of politics, and in this respect both have been living in peaceful co-existence,” he told a press conference in Paris.