Jordan player refuses to face Israeli opponent fencing contest

Jordanian fencing player, [, on Saturday refused to face an Israeli opponent in the Junior and Cadet group of the World Fencing Championships held in Dubai; one week after a Kuwaiti fencing player pulled out of the competition for the same reason.

Etharrak, a Jordanian activist group that opposes normalisation with Israel praised Al-Zumur’s “heroic stance and principles”, saying “this is how we, young and old, know our enemy well. We refuse to contribute to polishing its image and crimes, because sport is a path to values and morals in the first place.”

The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement in Jordan also celebrated Al-Zumur’s position, posting on Twitter: “A salute to the Jordanian fencing player, Iyas Al-Zumur, for his refusal to meet a Zionist player in the World Junior Fencing Championship”.

The Jordanian player’s position comes only one week after the Kuwaiti fencing player Mohammad Al-Fadil refused to face an Israeli opponent in the group stage of the World Fencing Championships held in Dubai.

READ: ‘Now we can talk about Ukraine we can talk about Palestine,’ says Egypt squash player