Human nature is always averse to wars, bloodshed and killing.
Sports also are a field where there used to be deep respect for human life.
This was why almost all international sports bodies have opposed the ongoing violence in Ukraine.
Russian teams and athletes were shunned out of most sports competitions around the world.
Russia, for instance, was kicked off the World Cup qualifiers, with the football federations of Poland, the Czech Republic and Sweden rejecting to play against the Russian football team.
Russian teams participating in the competitions of the Union of European Football Associations (Uefa) are sent away this year’s competitions.
In local European leagues, team captains wear armbands mimicking the Ukrainian flag.
Some players also enter the fields, wearing the Ukrainian flag.
These developments are surprising to some people, given the fact that the international governing body of association football, widely known as FIFA, and Uefa have always banned the association of politics and sports.
‘No politics in football’ is an oft-repeated mantra of these associations.
Surprising as well was also the decision by some international sports organizations to ban Russia from hosting international sports events in the coming period.
Russian athletes have been deprived of competing outside their national borders.
This comes as Chelsea Football Club faces an uncertain future against the background of alleged ties between its owner, Russian businessman Roman Abramovich, on one hand, and Russian President, Vladimir Putin, on the other.
The British government has agreed to let Abramovich to sell the club before May 31, but under its own supervision.
Chelsea is not allowed to sign player transfer contracts so long as the assets of its owner in Britain are frozen.
Arabs watch all these developments and feel a bitter taste in their mouths, not because they support the Russian campaign in Ukraine, but because they feel neglected by the international community, especially when it comes to Israeli aggressions against the Palestinians.
Israel keeps confiscating Palestinian land, dispossessing the Palestinians of their properties and changing the demography of Palestinian cities and towns.
The Israeli army pounded the Gaza Strip more than once in the past years.
Nonetheless, this seems to have passed unnoticed by the international community which is now enraged by Russian operations in Ukraine.
Israel continues to host sports events. Israeli national teams and athletes continue to participate in international competitions.
Some Arab athletes were penalized in the past years for refusing to play against Israeli sportsmen.
Algerian judo player, Fathi Noreen, and his coach, Ammar Benkhlef, were suspended for ten years by the International Judo Federation after they withdrew from a match against Israeli player, Tohar Botbol, in the last Tokyo Olympics.
In 2009, the Spanish Football Federation punished the Malian player, Frederic Kanoute, after he raised a T-shirt with the word ‘Palestine’ written on it, in solidarity with the Palestinian people against Israeli bombardment.
In 2016, the Uefa opened an investigation into the incident of Scotland’s Celtic fans who raised the Palestinian flags during their team’s match against Israel’s Hapoel Beersheba in the Champions League.
Double standards are evident in all these instances. They also show that international organizations are sometimes selective as to when they get angry.
These organizations need to know, however, that war is the same everywhere. War is about death and destruction everywhere. Human life should be sacred in all places and at all times.
