active campaign

On June 10th, as a pair of Israeli artistic duet swimmers stood next to a pool in Barcelona, Spain, awaiting the judging results after their Olympic qualifying performance, Clara Basiana, a commentator for Catalan public broadcaster TV3, saw an opportunity to launch an antisemitic diatribe, including a false “genocide” allegation against Israel.

While the camera focused on Eden Blecher and Shelly Bobritzky, Basiana said, “Beyond the technical aspects, I would like to point out that Israel’s international presence in the field of sport and culture is another strategy for the laundering of genocide and the violation of human rights that they are committing against the Palestinian people.”

“We have seen it here, at the Pre-Olympic Games in Barcelona, we have seen it repeatedly at Eurovision,” the former Olympic swimmer for Spain added. “It seems that during these events the war crimes of the Israeli state disappear. We have to be aware as spectators and make this situation visible so as not to normalize it.”

There are so many things the commentator could have said beside this, and we invite you to get involved and tell us what YOU would have said in her place.

Together, let’s show Ms. Basiana and TV3 how to praise an outstanding athletic performance instead of spreading hate.

After we collect all your ideas, we will send them to TV3, in hope that it will learn from this disturbing incident.

Please share with us how you would have reported on the Israeli performance here.

For footage of Basian’s remarks, visit: youtube.com/watch?v=y3m39e2Lx7o

The Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) also a petition demanding TV3 discipline Basiana. The petition is available to sign here.