Do You Have a Flag, Shahar Peer?
Posted by gauloises1 on November 2, 2009
After the kerfuffle surrounding the denial of a visa to Israel’s Shahar Peer to compete in Dubai at the beginning of the year, the WTA must have heaved a sigh of relief when she was granted a visa for Bali, despite the lack of diplomatic ties between Israel and Indonesia.
However, the Israeli flag will apparently not be displayed during the tournament as is customary; the Indonesian foreign ministry has released a statement saying that no ‘Israeli objects’ will be displayed if they have anything to do with it.
Poor Shahar. She did so well, winning Guanghzou and Tashkent to qualify. Still, it gives me an excuse to post this video from one of my favourite comedians during his glory days …
Carrie said
Poor Shahar. The other women competing should ask for their flags to be taken down too, although I feel weird even typing that suggestion. Just something. The WTA needs to rethink sending players to places where one of them will be singled out like that.
lira vega said
Personally, I see no problem with this kind of compromise. She was granted a visa and wont be at any disadvantage as a contestant because there wont be Israeli flag flying over the stadium. *shrugs*.
Yeah, I can recognize whole this brouhaha must be pretty unpleasant for her, but there was always going to be some of that with an Israeli athlete participating in a sporting event in Indonesia, regardless of whether there were going to be “Israeli objects” on display or not. So far, so good, IMO.
Mlle. Marseillaise (a.k.a Joan) said
I call fuckery. It’s not as bad as Dubai but it’s fuckery nonetheless.