Catalan TV host condemns ‘whitewashing’ of Israel crimes during Olympic Trial event
Barcelona (QNN)- Catalan TV commentator and ex Olympic swimmer Clara Basiana described Israel’s international presence in sports as a ‘whitewashing of genocide against Palestinians’ while narrating the Artistic Swimming Qualification Tournament in Barcelona.
“Beyond the technical aspects, I’d like to point out that Israel’s international presence in the field of sport and culture is another strategy for whitewashing of genocide and the violation of human rights that they are committing against the Palestinian people,” Basiana said as the athletes’ scores were announced.
The Israeli athletes Edan Blecher and Shelly Bobritsky took 4th place in the Olympic Trial event.
Basiana went on to tell viewers to remain wary of attempts to normalise the occupation state through its presence in international sports and entertainment events.
“We have seen it here, at the Pre-Olympic Games in Barcelona, we have seen it repeatedly at Eurovision,” Basiana said.
“It seems that during these events the war crimes of the Israeli state disappear. We have to be aware as spectators and make this situation visible so as not to normalise it.”
The Spanish commentator’s comments came after Israel’s 11-day aggression on the Gaza Strip, which started on May 10 and ended with a ceasefire brokered by mediator Egypt on May 21, killing at least 279 Palestinians, including 69 children and 40 women and injuring 1,910 others.
19 families in the Gaza Strip have been wiped off the population civil registry during Israel’s 11-day aggression, the Palestinian Health Ministry said, including 41 children and 25 women.
More than 90,000 Palestinians were displaced from their homes, and much of Gaza’s infrastructure and many residential buildings were completely destroyed or levelled.
Israel’s decades-old regime of military occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid desperately needs such propaganda festivals to art-wash its egregious crimes against the Palestinian people, as many pro-Palestine activists have called to boycott any festivals which Israel participates in.
Activists have said that Israel exploits such festivals to project itself as a melting pot of cultures, religions and social backgrounds, rather than as an apartheid and colonial regime that has more than 65 racist laws discriminating against its indigenous Palestinian citizens.
