Yesterday, the Guardian published an article by their chief sports reporter Sean Ingel on Israeli players being ‘banned’ from next month’s World Indoor Bowls Championships in Norfolk after a campaign by anti-Israel groups (“Israelis banned from competing in World Indoor Bowls Championships”, Dec, 31):
Here are the first several paragraphs of the original article:
Israeli players have been banned from next month’s World Indoor Bowls Championships in Norfolk after a campaign by pro-Palestinian groups. The decision was widely condemned by Jewish groups and the local MP, Rupert Lowe, who called it a victory for “the mob”.
Three Israelis were expected to compete in the tournament in Hopton-on-Sea – with Daniel Alomin due to play in the singles and Amnon Amar and Itai Rigbi in the pairs – but their invitations have since been withdrawn.
The World Bowls Tour (WBT) said in a statement that its decision had been taken after the involvement of Israeli bowlers at the Scottish International Open in August had produced “a significant escalation in related political concerns”.
“As a result of the intensity of the situation, the WBT Board, in consultation with our event partners and other relevant stakeholders, has made the difficult decision to withdraw the invitation for Israel to participate in the forthcoming World Indoor Championships. Bowls is, and always has been, a sport that unites people and this choice reflects our commitment to protecting the championships and ensuring they run smoothly for everyone involved.”
However the Norfolk Palestine Solidarity Campaign said the move came about after joint action with Scottish Sports for Palestine and Show Israeli Genocide the Red Card.
However, later that same day, we noted that WBT reversed its decision to ban Israelis from the competition following letters from UK Lawyers for Israel pointing out that their decision was illegal. Jonathan Turner, chief executive of UKLFI commented: “We are very pleased that the WBT Board has reversed its illegal decision to exclude the Israeli players. The absolute prohibition on direct discrimination in UK law is deliberate and ensures that those providing services cannot justify discrimination on grounds of pressure or threats from bigots.”
We then tweeted the Guardian journalist alerting him of the WBT’s reversal.
Ingle, as you can see, thanked us for the heads up, and then completely re-wrote the article, which is now titled (“Israelis free to play at World Indoor Bowls Championships after U-turn”, Dec. 31):
Here are the opening paragraphs of the re-written article:
Israeli players will now be free to compete at next month’s World Indoor Bowls Championships in Norfolk after tournament organisers revoked a ban. Three Israelis had been expected to play at the tournament in Hopton-on-Sea – with Daniel Alomin due to feature in the singles and Amnon Amar and Itai Rigbi in the pairs – but their invitations were withdrawn.
The initial ban came following a campaign by pro-Palestinian groups with the World Bowls Tour (WBT) suggesting its decision had been taken after the involvement of Israeli bowlers at the Scottish International Open in August had produced “a significant escalation in related political concerns”.
The WBT said the decision “was not taken lightly” and had been made “in the best interests of the event’s success and integrity”. The call was widely condemned by Jewish groups and the local MP, Rupert Lowe, who called it a victory for “the mob”. However, on Tuesday, the WBT issued a new statement confirming that the three players would be free to compete and offered an apology.
While we commend the journalist for responding to our tweet and re-writing the article, it’s odd, to say the least, that there’s no editor’s note informing readers that it was completely re-written.
Isn’t it remarkable what the verb ‘to sue’ can do? The mere whiff of it can get people like the WBT to rescind their racist decisions?
Guardian is short of funds and staff
The Grauniad is nothing more than a sick antisemitic joke.