UAE's Prejudiced Policy Prevents Israeli Athlete's Entry

1) "Gaza: Israeli Bombs Target Tunnels," A8 (World Briefing), by Reuters
2) "Tennis Channel Won't Televise Dubai Event in Protest," B10 (Sports), by Richard Sandomir

On a day that featured only one article and a short briefing, the Times receives a "Fit to Print" commendation.

1) Gaza: Israeli Bombs Target Tunnels

This briefing, as opposed to normal Times coverage, actually succeeds in providing the basic context for an Israeli bombardment on Gaza smuggling tunnels.

The piece details that the Israeli operation came "after rockets fired from the Gaza Strip landed in southern Israel." The article goes further on the tunnels, citing "Israeli concern that Hamas could replenish its arsenal" through such means.

This is the sort of context that is necessary for understanding Israel's military countermeasures. If the article were a bit longer, it also could have mentioned that two of the fundamental goals of Israel's military operation in Gaza last month was to:

1. Stop incessant rocket fire on Israeli civilian centers in the South
2. Prevent further illicit smuggling, particularly weapons, from Egypt to Gaza

Hamas has not been forthcoming on either of these points, necessitating further Israeli military action.

2) Tennis Channel Won't Televise Dubai Event in Protest

Surprisingly, a "fit to print" article comes from the Times sports section. The piece discusses the decision of the Tennis Channel to not air the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships because the United Arab Emirates (UAE) refused to grant an entry visa to Israeli female tennis player Shahar Peer.

Ken Solomon, "the chairman and chief executive of the network," provide some choice remarks:

• "This is an easy decision to come by, based on what is right and wrong."
• "Sports are about merit, absent of background, class, race, creed, color or religion. They are simply about talent. This is a classic case, not about what country did what to another country. If the state of Israel were barring a citizen of an Arab nation, we would have made the same decision."
• Solomon said that his channel had a "higher duty" to refuse to carry the Dubai event.
• "Tennis in many ways has been at the forefront of sport, with people breaking down barriers like Althea Gibson, Arthur Ashe and Billie Jean King. It’s harder for the Tennis Channel to turn the other cheek and not do the right thing."

One of the main problem's of this entire debacle is that the UAE did not inform the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) as to "why Peer was denied the visa."

Following international outcry, the UAE proffered this wholly unsatisfactory explanation:

We do not wish to politicize sports, but we have to be sensitive to recent events in the region and not alienate or put at risk the players and the many tennis fans of different nationalities that we have here in the UAE.

The fact that the UAE - supposedly a beacon of progress in the Arab world - could not accommodate a single Israeli athlete, is quite troubling.

Israeli Andy Ram is supposed to arrive in Dubai next week for men's doubles. Hopefully the UAE will reverse its discriminatory practices against Israeli athletes so he will be able to participate.