Indonesia risks losing hosting rights to World Beach Games for refusal to host Israeli teams

Indonesia is likely to lose hosting rights for the second edition of the World Beach Games after an Indonesian official objected to the participation of Israeli athletes in the multi-sports event amid widespread anti-Israeli sentiments in the Southeast Asian country and the region.

The international tournament is scheduled to be held on the Indonesian island of Bali between August 5 and August 12, with athletes competing in 14 disciplines like surfing and beach volleyball.

The inaugural edition of the World Beach Games was held in Qatar in 2019, with subsequent competitions canceled as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Meanwhile, back in April, Bali’s Governor Wayan Koster said Israeli athletes are not welcome to the sporting event, citing a preamble to the Indonesian Constitution, which calls for the universal abolition of colonialism and the country’s immutable support for the Palestinian cause and the oppressed nation’s struggle against the Tel Aviv regime.

Indonesia stripped of hosting FIFA U-20 World Cup for rejecting Israeli presence

FIFA has removed Indonesia as the host of the 2023 U-20 World Cup following internal opposition to hosting the Israeli team.

The preamble has prevented Israeli passport holders from visiting Indonesia since the apartheid entity claimed existence in 1948 after occupying huge swathes of Palestinian territories during a Western-backed war.

“I remain consistent in refusing the Israeli team’s participation in the 2023 World Beach Games in Bali,” Koster told English-language The Jakarta Post daily newspaper.

Support for the Palestinian cause is almost universal in the world’s most populous Muslim nation, where anti-Israeli sentiments are also running high among ordinary people over the regime’s atrocious crimes against Palestinians.

The move to ban Israeli athletes from sporting events in Indonesia is supported by the Ulema Council, Indonesia’s top Islamic scholars’ body, as well as the powerful Islamic Defenders Front, an Islamist organization with a prominent social media presence, and other Muslim groups that held protests in Jakarta in March at which Israeli flags were burned and banners reading “Israel is the enemy of Islam” were displayed.

Back in March, soccer’s world governing body FIFA stripped Indonesia of its right to host the 2023 FIFA Under-20 Men’s World Cup across six cities from May 20 to June 11. 

FIFA also expelled the Indonesian team from the competition, which took place in Argentina and restricted funding to the Football Association of Indonesia.

After Jakarta’s refusal to host Israel, FIFA transfers championship to Argentina

FIFA has officially chosen Argentina to replace Indonesia and host the under-20 world football championship.

Koster had earlier rejected the presence of the Israeli football team in Bali and accused FIFA of double standards for blacklisting Russia over its military campaign in Ukraine while turning a blind eye to Israel’s criminal actions against Palestinians.

“I invite the people of Bali to pray together so that FIFA will be moved to act fairly by eliminating the Israeli team in the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the same way it did when eliminating the Russian team in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar,” he stated at the time.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk