“It was a mistake”: Swiss fencers apologize according to the Israel scandal

Two days after the causation of a diplomatic scandal at the U23 European Championships in Tallinn, those responsible for the Swiss Epee are in favor.

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.

The four young fencers have now published a jointly signed apology on Instagram.

“We would like to explain our actions and express our regret,” wrote the quartet, among other things. The fact that they had not turned to the Israeli flag had “no political background and had nothing to do with Israel's disrespectful ones”. 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”.

You would realize that your action “caused irritation and found that it was a mistake”. The four young fencers continued: “We apologize to everyone whose feelings we hurt – especially our opponents from the Israeli fence team and the Israeli fence fuel.” They conclude with a promise: “We will learn from this situation and in the future we will perform better judgment in the same or similar moments.”

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