‘The spector of real-world invasion’

The decision by  last-minute decision by Dubai government officials to deny a visa to Israeli Shahar Peer, thereby preventing her participation in the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships is getting a fair amount of buzz this morning, including from two prominent Jewish sports columnists.

Such decisions against Israeli athletes are nothing new, writes Harvey Araton in The New York Times:

We have seen Olympic officials turn into ostriches when Iranians have packed up their gym bags when matched against an Israeli. When it comes to basketball, a sport Israel loves and happens to be pretty good at, its teams are relocated to Europe, a region it has almost no chance to survive.

If Dubai had hoped to rise above the fray and project itself as a modern, progressive-thinking nation, this was a step backwards. “Just like that, the glitter and promise of Dubai as an emerging international sports center evaporated into the cool desert night.”

Araton praised other tennis stars who have come to Peer’s defense, including Venus Williams, but urged even more solidarity.

Tennis… is a globetrotting sport of individuals, choosing its tour stops based on merit and good will. Last year, Peer did play in Doha, Qatar, which at the time had low-level ties with Israel. She was the first Israeli to play in a Gulf-Arab state. She has also played doubles with Sania Mirza, a Muslim from India in a partnership that has evoked cheers and jeers.

Just last month, Peer faced a small, noisy protest of Israel’s Gaza incursion during a tournament in Auckland, New Zealand. There is always going to be international conflict, and athletes in the middle. But they can’t be abandoned there when there is a choice. Tennis should finish its business in the gulf this month, and say bye-bye, Dubai.

Filip Bondy of the New York Daily News writes that events have created a “moral dilemma” for the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) “that pits a big-money commitment against good conscience.”

Bondy can barely hide his pessimism: “And we know how these things usually end.”

He  continues

The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour believes very strongly, and has a clear rule and policy, that no host country should deny a player the right to compete at a tournament for which she has qualified by ranking,” Larry Scott, chairman of the WTA tour, said in a statement. “Peer has earned the right to play in the tournament and it is regrettable that the UAE is denying her this right. Following various consultations, the Tour has decided to allow the tournament to continue to be played this week, pending further review by the Tour’s board of directors.” [Emphasis added]

This is a clear example of a new sort of logic: A equals B and B equals C; therefore C equals whatever will get us through the night. The WTA has an opportunity here to force the issue, but is choosing instead to allow things to slide because too many tickets have been sold and too many dollars are on the line.

Whether you believe Israel’s blazing assaults recently on Gaza were warranted, the notion of banning a player from a competition by political dictum is despicable in its own right. Just last year, Peer had become the first Israeli ever to appear in a Gulf region event at Doha, Qatar – a city that was bidding for the 2016 Olympics. Doors appeared to be opening….Now they are closed again.”

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Kaplan’s Korner on Jews and Sports © 2009 New Jersey Jewish News

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