One-Love. Sweden Fined for Discriminatory Isolation of Davis Cup Tournament With Israel. Thank You, ITF, For Maintaining Fair Standards!

B"H

OK, one down, one to go. I am still waiting for some comment on what happened in Dubai. At least we have some comment on the Davis Cup debacle. That's something, thank G-d!

It seems that Tennis was the most punitive of all the sports in regards to Israel's justified action in defending themselves from unbridled aggression by Hamas against Israel.

I suggest that this punitive action was a result of the fact that Israeli athletes excel in Tennis, and the countries who were the angriest about our exceptional tennis players were the ones who tried to isolate and exclude our players from international competition.

This was not only was patently wrong, it was unsportsmanlike.

It is very easy for any country to say that they "fear for the safety" of Jews in order to condone their discriminatory practices, but we all know that it is simply a cover for Anti-Semitic activities like what happened in Sweden and Dubai.

Shame on these venues, and a big HURRAH! for the International Tennis Federation for upholding the values of fairness, sportsmanship, and professionalism in International Tennis.

M
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Sweden Fined Over Israel Match, Banned From Hosting Davis Cup
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/130754

by Ernie Singer and Hana Levi Julian

(IsraelNN.com) The International Tennis Federation (ITF) announced late on Thursday that it has fined the Swedish Tennis Federation $25,000 and banned the city of Malmo from hosting Davis Cup matches for five years.

The move came after the city's authorities opted to hold last month's match with Israel behind closed doors. The federation also said in a statement that Sweden would have to pay an additional $15,000, which it would have received in gate receipts had the March 6-8 match been open to spectators.

In addition, the federation told Sweden it would have to provide a written guarantee that future matches would be open to the public.

Sweden is planning to appeal against the decision because of the security threat that existed around the tie. Muslims comprise 32 percent of the population of Malmo, and disrupted a pro-Israeli demonstration in the city during the Cast Lead counter-terror operation. Despite the threat of anti-Israeli outbursts during the match, however, police said it would have been safe to allow spectators. Violent demonstrations did take place outside the arena.