Jordanian authorities: “The competition organizers fear that they will not be able to guarantee the security of the Israelis during the event in the event of an accident.”
On Friday, the Jordanian authorities prevented the entry of the six-member Israeli triathlon team, including Itamar Lebanon, 21, from entering the Asian Cup this weekend.
The Jordanian authorities indicated that “this is the situation” despite the peace agreement between the two countries, and added, “The organizers of the competition fear that they will not be able to guarantee the security of the Israelis during the event in the event of an accident.”
The intervention of Israeli officials, including the Ministry of Culture and Sports, was not enough to get Itamar to Jordan, who missed a very important competition for him.
Itamar Lebanon told the Israeli channel 12: “The team members and I participated in the competition, but as soon as the list of participants was published, we saw that we were not in the game.” He continued, “The argument they gave us for not being on the list is simply: You are Israelis,” and he stressed that “ Today I came alone to Aqaba to register face to face and settle this matter, but I was told once more that it was not possible, because I am Israeli.”
“I told them it was obviously once morest international law and sportsmanship, but they didn’t want to know anything, the way things are going is very disappointing and very sad,” Itamar said.
Notably, regarding a year ago, Indonesia also did not allow the Israeli squash team to enter the country for the World Championships, before the tournament was canceled.