2024-02-14T19:29:21+00:00
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/ Israeli sports websites revealed severe anger among Israeli gymnasts after the authorities’ decision to prevent them from traveling to Egypt to participate in an international championship.
The Israeli sports news website Sport5 said that after the Israeli Gymnastics Federation announced last Friday that the gymnastics delegation would not travel to the World Cup finals in Cairo for security reasons, the Ministry of Sports, the Israeli Gymnastics Federation and the Shin Bet made great efforts in the past few days to reach an agreement with the Egyptians. These efforts were not crowned with success, and the Ministry of Sports issued its official announcement on Tuesday evening not to travel to Egypt.
The Israeli Federation added: “During this period, Israelis abroad, especially Israeli athletes, are exposed to great danger, as the Ministry of Sports, in cooperation with the Shin Bet, deals with the security challenge. Unfortunately, a large part of the demands that the Shin Bet presented to the authorities regarding the security of the Israeli delegation were responded to negatively by the Egyptian authorities. Therefore, the Shin Bet will not be able to take responsibility for the safety of the delegation, which led to the exit ban.”
The website added: “Despite the attempts of the Ministry of Culture and Sports and the Shin Bet to deal with the security challenge, circumstances did not allow for that this time.”
The website explained that the participation of the Israeli delegation in the tournament was very important for gymnasts Alex Myakinin, Ron Pyatov and Andrey Medvedev, who aim to get a ticket to the Olympic Games, but will ultimately remain in Israel.
The website indicated that initially permission was granted to the Gymnastics Federation to fly athletes to Egypt, but as reported on Friday, the decision was changed.