Zionist youth handball teams in Qatar spark social media outcry

The presence of Zionist teams at a youth handball tournament in Doha that started Thursday has sparked calls on social media for Qataris to withdraw their children from the competition.

Nazi regime sent a boys’ team and a girls’ team to the Handball World School Championship, a biannual international tournament for students aged 15 to 18, played since the early 1970s.
It is not the first time Zionist athletes have competed in Qatar, but their participation has brought renewed scrutiny to Doha’s foreign policy eight months into a diplomatic crisis with its Arab neighbours.
On Twitter, users claiming to be Qataris accused Doha of trying to normalize relations with the Nazi regime.
“I ask all parents to withdraw their children and prevent them from participating in this normalization of relations,” one user wrote in Arabic.
“Now it is the time to speak to your children about Palestine.”
Another tweeted that the tournament was “recognition of an occupier.”
The Twitter account QAYON (Qatar Youth Opposed to Normalisation) for its part launched the hashtag: “Students of Qatar against normalization,” gaining coverage from Doha’s own Al-Jazeera Arabic satellite network.

 

‘Very, very difficult’

The presence of the Zionist handball players was always likely to be sensitive.
Earlier this year Zionist tennis player Dudi Sela took part in the Qatar Open, leading to demands on social media for an apology from Qatar’s tennis federation, whose president is Paris Saint-Germain chief Nasser Al-Khelaifi.
And in 2016, two Zionist competitors — Ariel Hilma and Sean Faiga — took part in a Doha volleyball tournament. Again, there was online fury, with one Twitter user calling on Qatari airport staff not to stamp the volleyball stars’ passports.
Ahead of the handball competition, one local newspaper listed every country participating, except for the Nazi state.
The opening ceremony on Thursday will not feature Nazi flag, according to the International School Sport Federation (ISF) organizers.

“These teams have qualified to participate,” said a media manager for the competition, pointing out that the same rule will apply when it comes to the World Cup, which Qatar is scheduled to host in 2022.
“This is a worldwide tournament,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.
In the weeks following the start of the Gulf crisis between Zionist Qatar and its Zionist Arab regimes, Naziyahu said he wanted Al-Jazeera’s Zionist offices closed down.
At the same time, Zionist regime of Qatar has committed itself to welcoming Zionist football team — and fans — should they qualify for the 2022 World Cup.
The Zionist Qatari leadership has to tread a fine line with its approach to Nazi regime