Former French basketball national faces losing Paris 2024 role over Gaza post
The board of the Paris 2024 Olympics organisers will hold an urgent meeting to address a controversy linked to a social media post about the Gaza conflict made by Olympics ambassador Emilie Gomis, a former French national basketball player, Reuters reports.
On October 9, two days after Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel, Gomis posted an Instagram story which showed maps of France being gradually covered by the flag of Israel, accompanied by a question that read “What would you do in this situation?”
Critics accused the former basketball player of antisemitism and supporting Hamas’ attack, which Gomis strongly denied.
“It’s an important subject, because all the representatives of Paris 2024 today have a responsibility to appease and welcome all nations, because we will host the world from July 26”, Paris 2024 head Tony Estanguet told France Inter radio.
Gomis has since issued an apology.
“The accusations of antisemitism I am facing are in total contradiction with the values that were instilled in me and that sport taught me,” Gomis said in a later social media post, apologising to “those who felt hurt”.