In a testimony on I24News, Ariel Elkin, Israeli Pilot of Formula 3, revealed the discrimination he has undergone on the international circuit since October 7, 2023, because of his commitment to Israeli hostages and his posted patriotism.
Solidarity displayed and hostility encountered
Since the start of the conflict, Elkin has chosen to use his sports visibility to raise awareness of international opinion on the fate of the hostages detained in Gaza. An approach that earned him real hostility during the motorized Olympic Games last October. “We felt that we were in front of an anti-Israeli event,” he said, describing a deleterious atmosphere as soon as he arrived. As usual, the pilot had affixed photographs on his vehicle hostages and the “Bring Them Home Now” sticker (bring them home now). “Immediately, we had a different behavior from that of others. The organizers asked us to remove the photographs from the hostages,” he explained.
A disqualification with the appearance of discrimination
The most serious incident occurred after training, where Elkin had won first place. “The same evening, the organizers invited me to the jury room to punish me,” he says. Without legitimate reason according to him, his position was degraded in 12th place, then in the 5th, preventing him from winning a medal for Israel. “It was an attempt to do everything they could to lower the scale of Israel, so that we do not yet have a medal in motorsport,” analyzes the pilot, who sees in this decision a blatant discrimination based on his nationality.
A case brought before the Knesset
This case of discrimination exceeded the sports framework to reach the highest Israeli political bodies. “When I returned from this Olympiad with the Israeli delegation, I was invited to the Knesset to tell my case,” said Elkin, adding that the entire Israeli sports delegation had suffered similar treatments. This hearing has led to “a meeting about Israeli athletes internationally” and to measures taken to protect Israeli athletes faced with such situations. Nevertheless, as Elkin points out with bitterness, “what happened has happened, this medal will not come back.” Despite these painful experiences, Ariel Elkin refuses to give up. If he recognizes being “forced to decrease [son] Profile in the representation of Israel “in Formula 3, he found other ways to engage.” I decided to do something else and not to stop my attempts to bring my stone to the building, he explains with determination. With his team, he created a project dedicated to the victims of the war: “We took 15 post-traumatic fighters after the war of October 7 and we help them get back by motorized sports.”
This testimony highlights the challenges faced by Israeli sportsmen on the international scene in the current geopolitical context, between the desire to express their solidarity with their country and sometimes barely veiled discrimination.
