5 controversies that won’t go away: hijab bans, anti-Israel and more

With less than a week to go until the start of the Paris Olympics, controversies continue to arise both on and off the field.

On Tuesday, Al Jazeera summarized five of the major controversies that continue to linger ahead of the Games.

The first controversy is the ban on hijab for French athletes.

Athletes competing in the Paris Olympics will be allowed to wear hijabs, but not those from the host country of France.

France prohibits its athletes from wearing equipment with religious or political connotations, and the hijab is categorized as such.

“The hijab ban violates the Olympic Charter,” Amnesty International said in a recent letter to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), adding that it ”discriminates against Muslim athletes and leads to their social isolation.”

The second controversy is the call for discipline against Israel.

Israel has been at war with the Palestinian militant organization Hamas since October of last year, and the conflict has taken a heavy toll on innocent civilians, including Palestinian children.

As a result, calls for Israel to be banned from the Olympics have been vocalized by pro-Palestinian protesters.

However, IOC President Thomas Bach responded in the negative in March when asked about the possibility of disciplining Israel, and FIFA delayed its decision to ban the Israeli national team from the Paris Olympics on March 19.

The third controversy is over the human rights of the laborers working on the Games.

A total of 181 accidents occurred in Olympic-related workplaces, 31 of which reportedly involved serious injuries.

In addition, the unrest at ADP, the main airport operator in Paris, France, has been a source of unrest ahead of the Games, with workers at the airport calling for a one-day strike to demand special bonuses during the Games.

The water quality of the Seine River, which will be the site of the opening ceremony and swimming competition, has also been controversial.

The Seine will host the triathlon and swimming events of the Games.

However, the water quality of the Seine has been in question, raising concerns about the risk of gastroenteritis, conjunctivitis, otitis externa, skin diseases, and more.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo personally jumped into the Seine on Sunday to try to quell the controversy.

The punishment of Russia and Belarus was the last major controversy of the Paris Olympics.

The Games will be the first since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Athletes from Russia, which invaded Ukraine, and Belarus, which aided Russia in the process, will not be allowed to compete in Paris on principle.

The IOC has invited some athletes with no ties to either country’s armed forces and who do not support the war to compete as individual neutrals. They are not allowed to use their country’s name, flag, anthem, or symbols.

The IOC invited 36 Russian and 22 Belarusian athletes to participate in March of this year, but as of early July, only 16 Russian and 17 Belarusian athletes had confirmed their participation.

Athletes from these countries will not be allowed to attend the opening ceremony and will not be able to compete in team events. 파워볼사이트

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