Opinion Why it is important for India to advocate for a ban on Israel’s participation in International Olympiad
Fortunately, there is a growing international consensus to end the horrific, unacceptable violence being inflicted by Israel on the Palestinian people, and India is showing welcome signs of upholding this consensus
With Israel blocking food aid, Palestinians struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis. (Photo: AP) -
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Written by Sunil Mukhi
The International Science Olympiads are subject-specific student competitions founded on the ideals of internationalism, competitive spirit and excellence embodied in the Olympic Games. But for both the Games and the Science Olympiads, the path to internationalism has been somewhat rocky. The losers of World War I — Germany and the other Central Powers — were not invited to the 1920 Antwerp Olympics. Much later, South Africa was banned from 1964 to 1992 due to Apartheid. This decision was initially opposed on the grounds that it could even hurt Black athletes, but the African and Asian Olympic Committees disagreed. More recently, Russia and Belarus were banned from the 2024 Paris Olympics due to Russia’s war on Ukraine, though their teams were permitted to participate as “individual neutral athletes”. This type of ban has become the new normal. A proposal was made for such a ban to extend to Israel due to its war on Gaza, but did not succeed.
Like the Games, the Science Olympiads have responded to international conflicts. In 2022, the International Mathematics Olympiad (IMO) voted 59-48 to ban Russia while allowing a few Russian students to participate remotely, a ban that remains in force today. The same year, a petition to the IMO to ban Israel was signed by 700 mathematicians including an Israeli participant of a previous IMO who said “We see what is happening in Gaza: There’s war crimes, there’s starvation, the genocide. For me it is clearcut.” This petition was not upheld. But last year, the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI), did ban Israel while allowing its students to participate.
With this backdrop, a group of over 500 scientists from India and elsewhere, including myself, recently petitioned the International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA), then soon to be held in Mumbai, to suspend Israel while permitting its students to compete. We wrote “The Olympic spirit requires all member nations to follow international law and respect the human rights of students from other countries. We regret to note Israel’s repeated violations of these norms. Israel’s protracted campaign in Gaza has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, including thousands of children.” The petition also referred to an advisory by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), passed by a majority of 11 to 4, that “the state of Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is unlawful.” Incidentally, the Indian judge at the ICJ, Dalveer Bhandari, voted with the majority and justified the decision by “the widespread nature of the military campaign in Gaza, as well as the loss of life, injury, destruction and humanitarian needs following from it.”
The international board of the IOAA, containing 120 members from 64 countries, deliberated over this petition and passed the following near-unanimous resolution (with only three opposing votes): “IOAA will not stop students from Israel and their mentors from participating in future events… However, use of the country name (Israel), national flag… will remain suspended for this team.” The resolution also cites similar strictures by IOAA on Russia and Belarus since 2022.
In a curious twist, around 300 Indian academics, including six directors and nine vice-chancellors (present and past) of Government of India institutions, have written to the Prime Minister regarding the petition that we signed. They named specific signatories and also the current IOAA President, and asked the PM to “take strict and appropriate action against the named faculty members for misusing their positions and damaging India’s global standing.”
At least after the Emergency, it is somewhat unprecedented for Indian academics to complain to the PM against their colleagues for simply expressing their views. The complaint does not express any opinion on the Gaza issue, nor does it disagree with our description of it. Rather, it claims we had “the aim of embarrassing the Government of India in its relations with the state of Israel” and “targeting India’s diplomatic stance and embarrassing the nation before the global community”. It is not known if these signatories have objected to the previous ban on Russia, despite India having friendly relations with that country, too.
The claim about targeting India’s diplomatic stance is especially puzzling. India is among 142 nations that have just endorsed a UN resolution for a two-state solution, which Israel vigorously opposes. Recently, our Prime Minister signed the Tianjin Declaration, which strongly condemns “the actions that have caused numerous civilian casualties and a humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip.” These words resonate strongly with the sentiments in our petition to the IOAA.
The complaint then makes the astonishing claim that the petition “has completely overshadowed and sidetracked our efforts at becoming Vishwaguru”. How a simple petition can “overshadow” India’s efforts is not explained. It then alleges that we “are strongly committed to an older political line that has long since given way to a new paradigm that sees our country as a new, aspirational, and progressive Bharat”. Ironically, these words — which read more like party slogans than academic opinions — have been endorsed by the heads of great Indian institutions like IIT Kanpur and Jawaharlal Nehru University. Yet, despite so many sinister motivations being imputed, the only political line common to all signatories of the petition is humanity — a founding principle of our nation.
The complaint marks a crude attempt to threaten those who speak on behalf of conscience and decency. Fortunately, there is a growing international consensus to end the horrific, unacceptable violence being inflicted by Israel on the Palestinian people, and India is showing welcome signs of upholding this consensus.
The writer is Raja Ramanna Chair of Physics, IISER Pune. Views are personal
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