Israel Matzav

It figures: New International Olympic Committee chief heads group that helps comply with Arab boycott of Israel

Given the Nazi history of the International Olympic Committee, no one should be surprised that the Committee's new chairman also chairs a German-based organization that helps companies to guarantee that their products do not contain anything from Israel. Note: Not 'just' from the 'territories,' which would be noxious enough, but from Israel.

Thomas Bach, a German who was elected Tuesday at an IOC session in Buenos Aires, is chairman of Ghorfa, the Arab-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which was set up in the 1970s by Arab countries to boycott trade with Israel.

“It betrays the principles of sportsmanship and fair play for the IOC to be headed by someone who actively participates in ongoing Israel boycott campaign measures,” said Deidre Berger, director of the American Jewish Committee Berlin Ramer Institute.

Ghorfa helps German companies ensure that products meet the import requirements of Arab governments, some of which ban products and services from Israel.

The group continues to issue certificates of German origin for trade with Arab countries. Its earlier practice of certificates verifying that no product parts were produced in Israel stopped in the early 1990s when Germany enacted trade regulations forbidding the use of certificates of origin to enable de facto trade boycotts, according to the AJC.

Part of the problem is that we Jews are too polite to call someone an anti-Semite. Recall, for example, Alex Giladi.

Or look at the reaction of Germany's Jewish community to Bach's appointment.

Bach’s candidacy came under criticism in Germany in past weeks for its strong support by Arab leaders. But Charlotte Knobloch, president of the Jewish Community of Bavaria and former head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said in a statement that Bach “stands for central values such as tolerance, fairness — sportsmanship in the best sense of the word — and cosmopolitanism.”

Useful idiot. 

Labels: anti-Semitism, Arab boycott of Israel, International Olympic Committee, Munich Olympic massacre, Nazis

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:09 AM