Israeli officials were outraged after the Lebanese delegation to the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro prevented Israeli athletes from joining them on a bus to the opening ceremony on Friday.

“I am shocked by the incident in which the Israeli delegation was humiliated … because the Lebanese delegation refused to share a bus with Israeli Jews. This is pure anti-Semitism and racism of the worst kind,” said Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev in an interview with Army Radio Sunday.

The head of the Lebanese Olympic team, Salim al-Haj Nicola, physically blocked the entrance to the bus when the Israeli team tried to board the vehicle that was assigned to both sets of athletes.

“The International Olympic Committee, which champions the separation of sports and politics, must condemn this incident and act to prevent this type of behavior from recurring,” Regev said.

Regev spoke with Igal Carmi, the president of Israel’s Olympic Committee, and clarified that Israel must not remain silent about the incident because doing so would reinforce the delegitimization of Israeli athletes. Regev noted that the subject would be raised at the next joint meeting of worldwide Olympic committee heads in an attempt to prompt an official condemnation of the incident and to prevent its recurrence.

“I am sending a warm embrace to all of our athletes who were humiliated on what was such an emotional and important day for them,” Regev said. “I support Coach Udi Gal for talking about the anti-Semitic and unsportsmanlike incident. We all have a responsibility to not let this issue slip from the agenda until this phenomenon ceases to exist.”

Israel’s Olympic sailing coach Udi Gal described the incident on his Facebook page: “Disgraceful! The Israeli Olympic team prepares to board the bus to the opening ceremony. It turns out we are sharing the bus with the Lebanese team. As soon as they realized they would be together with the Israeli team, members of the Lebanese team, led by the head of their team, turned to the driver and demanded he close the door. The organizers tried to split us up onto other buses, something that simply cannot be done for security and symbolic reasons. I insisted, we all insisted, on boarding our designated bus and if the Lebanese don’t want us, they’re welcome to get off. The bus driver opened the door, but this time the head of the Lebanese delegation stood at the entrance, blocking both the entrance and the aisle … The organizers tried to prevent a physical altercation and an international incident and took us aside to a special shuttle.”

Gal told Israel Hayom on Saturday, “It’s a shame that we’re bringing problems from the Middle East, which is tens of thousands of kilometers away from here, to the world’s largest sporting event. The Brazilians are doing an excellent job of hosting us, and on Friday they found themselves in what can only be described as a shameful incident. It doesn’t matter right now what your political views are, what happened contradicts the Olympic spirit. We could have gotten dragged in by the provocation, but we chose not to resort to hooliganism. Unlike them, we decided to abide by the Olympic spirit, which is the most important thing in these games. We will not let anyone ruin this experience.”

Gili Lustig, CEO of Israel’s Olympic Committee and one of the heads of the Israeli Olympic delegation, said, “When we arrived at the bus area, we found we had accidentally been assigned the same bus as the Lebanese delegation. It wasn’t like there wasn’t enough room, but the organizing committee asked us to not make a big deal out of it. They apologized to us and sent us another bus.”

According to Lustig, “The hostile behavior of the head of the Lebanese delegation contradicts the Olympic charter. We will appeal to the international [Olympic] committee about what took place so that occurrences such as this do not happen again. Now the matter is behind us and we are preparing for the events.”

Danny Oren, sport director of the Israeli delegation, said, “It didn’t get to the point of pushing or physical altercation because they were inside the bus and we were outside, but it’s a shameful event for the Lebanese.”

Even More Motivated to Succeed

One of the athletes described the incident as “really unpleasant.” He said, “We, like all the athletes from the other delegations around us, were looking forward to one of the highlights of the Olympics, but this incident brought us back to reality. It was a reminder of the routine treatment our country faces, and you could say it might even motivate all of us to achieve better results.”

The Israeli team had another unpleasant encounter when they entered the stadium, during the opening ceremony in Rio. As Israel’s delegation was announced, and gymnast Neta Rivkin led the athletes holding the flag, both applause and boos could be heard.

By contrast, the Palestinian delegation was welcomed into the stadium with enthusiastic applause.

The Lebanese Version

The incident has been covered extensively by Arab media outlets, and the head of the delegation has become a national hero in Lebanon.

Nicola told a different version to Lebanese media and insisted that he had the right to prevent another team’s athletes from joining them on the transport reserved for them.

“We boarded our bus, which was Number 22 out of 250 buses. On the bus was a sign that clearly indicated it was for the Lebanese delegation,” he said.

According to Nicola, as soon as he noticed that members of the Israeli delegation were planning to board the bus, “I asked the bus driver to close the door but the guide with the Israeli team prevented him from doing so,” Nicola told Lebanese newspaper An-Nahar.

“When I realized the Israelis were planning to board our bus, I had no choice but to block the entrance with my body,” he said. “Some of the Israelis immediately tried to cause provocations, trying to force their way inside, but I did not give in. It is clear to me that this was an intentional move by the Israelis. They have their own bus, just like all the other delegations. Why would they insist on boarding the Lebanese delegation’s bus? The Israelis were looking for trouble and they behaved rudely.”

Nicola told the Associated Press that it was “only a small problem.”

“This problem is finished,” he said by telephone. “We are here only for sports.”

Israel Hayom has learned that the entire incident was recorded by one of the Israeli athletes on his mobile phone.

Members of the Israeli delegation considered sharing the video online to show the world what really transpired, but the IOC prohibits the distribution of this type of footage on social media, citing “broadcast rights.”

As Israel Hayom reported ahead of the Olympic Games, the Israeli athletes signed a document that forbids them from distributing this material. Athletes were also instructed by the heads of the Israeli delegation not to talk about the incident.

The bus incident joins a long list of incidents in which athletes from Muslim countries have resorted to a variety of means, including feigning illness, to avoid encounters with Israeli athletes. This year, Israeli judokas Gili Cohen and Or Sasson have been paired up with opponents from Saudi Arabia and Egypt, who some have speculated will “sustain injuries” right before their judo matches to avoid competing with Israelis.