The Asian Games, also known as the Asiad, is a multi-sport event that takes place every four years and involves athletes from countries across Asia. Hangzhou, China, is hosting the 19th edition of the quadrennial event this year from September 23 to October 8.

There are 45 countries that are participating in this year’s Asian Games, namely, India, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Macau, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, East Timor, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen.

There are a total of eight countries which have their territories within Asia but are not part of the Asian Games and Israel is one of them. The others are Russia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Cyprus, Armenia and Egypt.

People might be confused to learn that Israel, which geographically belongs to the Asian continent, does not compete in the Asian Games but has continued to do so in the European Championships since 1990. In fact, Israel created history the previous year when its men’s marathon squad won the gold medal at the summer’s European Championships. Despite receiving praise for its performance, the nation’s participation in the competition prompted the question of why, given their geographical location, they participated in the European competition and not in the Asian Games.

Let us understand why Israel is not allowed in the Asian Games and instead takes part in the European Championships

Israel joined the federation as a founding member and participated in Asian athletic events, such as the Asian Games, from 1954 through 1974. Israel actually performed exceedingly well in these endeavours, consistently placing in the top 10 at the Asian Games.

However, Israel was expelled from the Asian Games Federation when it was reorganized as the Olympic Council of Asia in 1981. Following this, a vote to permanently exclude Israel from the games was held in 1982.

Israel had previously twice been denied entry at the Games in 1962 and 1978 due to political issues. Due to political concerns, Indonesia, the 1962 host nation, refused to allow Israel to participate, claiming that it would harm their relations with the Arab governments. When the 25 members of the Asian Games Federation were asked in July 1976 if Israel should take part in the 1978 Games, all 12 responses were in opposition.

The history of the bitter relationship Israel has shared with its neighbouring Arab countries since it came into existence in 1948, went on to become the primary reason for Israel’s expulsion from a number of Asian sporting organizations.

Arab-Israel conflict

Beginning around the end of the nineteenth century, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has existed. The partition plan, also known as Resolution 181, was adopted by the UN in 1947 and aimed to create separate Arab and Jewish states inside the British Mandate of Palestine. The State of Israel was established on May 14, 1948, which precipitated the first Arab-Israeli War. Israel won the battle in 1949 and the area was partitioned into the State of Israel, the West Bank (west of the Jordan River), and the Gaza Strip.

Over the following years, tensions rose in the region, particularly between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, and Syria.

In 1967, Israeli forces and Arab nations fought a lethal battle for six days. The war known to Israelis as the Six-Day War and to Arabs and others as the 1967 War or the June War, fundamentally altered the region’s landscape. Israel became the region’s leading military force over those six days after defeating three Arab armies and capturing land that was four times its original size. It also further bittered the relationship between Israel and its neighbouring Arab nations.

Israelis thought that routing the Arab armies would convince their leaders they had no hope of destroying Israel and would agree to a peace agreement. The Arabs, however, had been humiliated and would have to regain their honour before contemplating any accommodation with Israel. Instead of peace, the Arab League Summit in Khartoum in August 1967 declared the Arab position toward Israel would be no peace, no negotiations, and no recognition.

Egypt under President Gamal Abd Al-Nasser started to shell Israeli positions around the Suez Canal shortly after the Six Day War came to a conclusion. On March 8, 1969, President Nasser declared that “The War of Attrition” had officially begun. His objective was to weaken Israel’s commitment to hold its positions and persuade it to leave the Sinai Peninsula or at the very least the Suez Canal.
A full-fledged static war along the Canal resulted from the occasional fighting occurrences, and it was characterized by intense artillery fire, commando raids, aerial bombardment, and fighting. On August 8, 1970, a cease-fire was only achieved through American intervention, although it had little impact on the deployment of Israeli and Egyptian forces on the ground.

After the 1967 war, the Arab states refused to recognise Israel and refused to compete against Israeli athletes in international sporting events.

• In 1974, Israel was expelled from the Asian Football Confederation.
• In 1974, Israel was also expelled from the Asian Athletics Association.
• In 1976, Israel was excluded from the 1978 Asian Games for ‘security reasons’.
• In 1981, the Asian Olympic Council was reorganized so as to permanently exclude Israel.

As a result, Israel has sought to compete in international sports competitions with other nations that are more accepting of its participation.

In 1989 Israel was made a ‘temporary’ member of the European Athletics Association by the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) and in 1994 Israel became a full member of the European Olympic Committee. Since then, Israel has been competing in various European sports events, including the European Games and certain European championships.

Israel declares ‘state of readiness for war’

The relationship between Israel and its neighbouring Arab countries remains extremely volatile until today. In fact, on Saturday, October 7, the Israel Defense Forces declared a state of readiness for war following a massive barrage of rockets from the Gaza Strip and infiltration of Hamas terrorists into Israel.

There has been sustained rocket fire toward Israel for over two hours. One woman has been killed and there are multiple wounded from the barrages.

Aside from the woman who died of her wounds, the injured included a 52-year-old man from Gederot, who was moderately injured, and a 20-year-old man from Yavne, who also sustained minor injuries. Both victims were transferred to Kaplan Hospital, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Hospitals also began reporting their wounded: Asaf Harofeh said it treated six people — two in serious condition, one in moderate condition, and three with mild injuries.