Panel finds Swiss TV commentary on Israel’s Olympic bobsleigh team was ‘discriminatory’

Switzerland’s broadcasting complaints authority announced Friday that a TV commentary questioning the legitimacy of an Israeli bobsleigher competing at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics had breached discrimination rules.

The Independent Complaints Authority for Radio and Television (ICA) said it had upheld four complaints about the commentary on Swiss French-language public broadcaster RTS concerning Adam Edelman.

When Edelman piloted Israel’s two-man bobsleigh crew, RTS broadcaster Stefan Renna quoted from the athlete’s social media comments in support of the IDF during the conflict in Gaza, sparked by the Hamas-led onslaught on October 7, 2023.

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The commentator said Edelman should have been barred from the Games.

Live as the Israeli team made its descent at the Olympics on February 16, the commentator on RTS2 “spent the entire run discussing statements made on social media” by Edelman, regarding the Gaza war, the ICA said.

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The authority upheld the complaints by five votes to four.

“A majority of the members concluded that the commentary — which appeared to have been prepared in advance — suggested that the Israeli athlete should be excluded from the Olympic Games due to his political views,” the ICA said in a statement.

“They found that this conveyed a stigmatizing, and therefore discriminatory, message directed at him, in contrast to the 25 other athletes competing that day.

“The members determined that the sports commentator had subjected the Israeli athlete to unequal treatment, thereby violating the prohibition against discrimination.”

The ICA will at a later date publish the written reasoning for its decision, detailing the measures it has requested.

Generally, when the ICA finds a breach of the rules, it directs the broadcaster to take “measures to prevent any further violations” and to subsequently report on the steps taken.

At the time, Edelman called the commentary a “diatribe” and said he gave it no credence whatsoever.

Israel’s embassy in Switzerland said it was “deeply appalled by the blatant abuse” and demanded decisive action and a clear apology.

RTS has removed the sequence from its website.

The nine-member ICA rules on complaints against radio and television programs, determining whether any violations of the relevant laws have been committed.

“This includes compliance with the requirements of appropriateness and diversity, observance of fundamental rights, protection of minorities and the prohibition of glorification or extenuation of violence,” it says.

Appeals against ICA decisions can be lodged directly with Switzerland’s Federal Supreme Court.

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