Swiss fencers apologize for the diplomatic scandal with Israel

Two days after the responsible Swiss fencers caused a diplomatic scandal at the U23 European Championships in Tallinn in Tallinn, they published a signed apology on Instagram.

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After Ian Hauri, Théo Brochard, Jonathan Fuhrimann and Sven Vineis won silver in the team competition at the European Championships behind Israel,, like the other medalists, did not turn towards the Israeli flag during the panel ceremony. This led too much criticism in Israel and Switzerland.

+ Swiss U23 fence team that was convicted of disregarding Israel

“We would like to explain our actions and express our regret,” they wrote among other things. The fact that they did not turn to the Israeli flag had “no political background and had nothing to do with the disrespectful of Israel”. Rather, they wanted to “express our grief and empathy in relation to the great human suffering of the civilian population that affects all sides in this conflict”.

+ Swiss football scandals over the years

You realize that your action “caused irritation and find that it was a mistake”. The four fencers continued: “We apologize to everyone whose feelings we hurt – especially our opponents from the Israeli Zence team and the Israeli fencing association.”

They came to the conclusion that they would “learn from this situation and in the future in the same or similar moments they would have better judgment”.

It is not yet clear whether you will have further consequences. The European Association published a warning.

Translated from the German by deep/ts

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