BAGHDAD (Dispatches) – The Iraqi national fencing team withdrew from the Epe World Cup in Turkey after they had to compete against opponents from the Zionist regime.
The Iraqi Fencing Federation announced in a statement that “due to the participation of the Zionist regime’s team in the individual division in the Istanbul Epe World Cup and after the group stage, some Iraqi fencers were drawn against Israeli opponents, we decided to withdraw from the competition,” the raqi News Agency (INA) reported.
This decision is made according to a piece of legislation approved by the Iraqi parliament which bans any normalization with the criminal Zionist regime in solidarity with the oppressed people of Palestine.
In recent years, an increasing number of athletes from Arab and Muslim countries have avoided facing Zionist opponents in international competitions in support of the Palestinian cause.
They view the participation of Zionist athletes in sports events as a scheme to help the occupying regime gradually normalize its relations with Muslim and Arab nations despite its brutal occupation of Palestine and its relentless crimes against Palestinians.
On Saturday, Kuwaiti fencer Abdulaziz Alshatti withdrew from the event in Turkey to avoid facing a Zionist contestant over support for the Palestinian cause and refusal of normalization with the Tel Aviv regime.
The 32-year-old athlete pulled out of the competitions in Istanbul as soon as he found out he was scheduled to take on a Zionist competitor.
“I withdrew from the tournament because of the presence of a representative from the Zionist entity in the same group,” Alshatti wrote in an Arabic-language post published on his Instagram page.
He added, “My trust in God is great, and goodness is coming with His permission. His generosity is not delayed, but rather comes at the right time.”
Back in November 2018, Alshatti quit the World Fencing Championship in Switzerland over a draw that set him on course for a match-up against a Zionist opponent.
Last September, Kuwaiti karate fighter Mohammad al-Otaibi withdrew from the 2022 Karate 1-Premier League contests in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku not to face an Israeli contestant.
In May 2021, Kuwait’s National Assembly unanimously approved bills that outlaw any deals or normalization of ties with the occupying regime.
On August 18, 2020, 37 Kuwaiti lawmakers called on their government to reject a normalization deal between the Zionist regime and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Anti-Zionist sentiments run high in Kuwait. A poll conducted in 2019 by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, an American think tank, showed that 85 percent of Kuwaitis oppose normalizing ties with the regime.