Chairman Yoel Razvozov of the Knesset Sports Lobby has sent a letter to President Thomas Bach of the International Olympic Committee demanding that he not permit the absence of Israel's flag from international competitions. Interviewed by Arutz Sheva, the Yesh Atid MK said, "As far as I'm concerned, when one of our athletes competes and stands on the [victory] podium without an Israeli flag but the symbol of an international organization, it's surrender to terrorism."
A former world-class judoka, Razvozov explained, "After all, what do the Arab states want? Because they have a lot of money, when they host competitions, they hide our flag and thereby say they do not recognize us. That's how it was when athletes from Iran did not want to compete against me because did not want to recognize us as a country."