‘You don’t know how to lose,’ Sa’ar tells Swiss fencing team

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on Saturday congratulated Israel’s under-23 fencing team for taking a gold medal at a European tournament, while berating the Swiss team for turning their backs on the Israeli flag during the award ceremony.

“Shame on the Swiss team for their disrespectful behavior. You don’t know how to lose and behaved in a manner which is an embarrassment to you and the country you’re supposed to represent,” Sa’ar tweeted.

Switzerland on Sunday issued a formal apology to Israel’s Foreign Ministry and the Israel Fencing Association through its ambassador to Israel, Simon Geissbühler, Hebrew media reported.

As is the customary tradition of the European Fencing Championship, the three teams who claimed the gold, silver and bronze medals took to the podium to receive their awards. The Israeli and Italian teams— the latter having won bronze—turned respectfully toward their national flags when their national anthems played.

However, the four members of the Swiss team, Yan Auri, Theo Broshar, Yonatan Fohriman and Sven Vines, remained facing forward when Israel’s “Hatikva” was playing.

The four Israeli fencers, Alon Sarid, Fyodor Khaperski, Yonatan Masika and Itamar Tavor, alongside coach Israeli Alexander Ivanov, beat Switzerland 45 to 34.

“From our perspective, sports should bring people together, not divide them,” a representative of the Israel Fencing Association was quoted by Hebrew media as saying.

Fencer Sarid told Ynet News: “It was very hurtful to see the attitude we received when we won. This is disrespecting us, the fencers, and disrespecting the country we represent.”

Following the incident, the Swiss Fencing Association issued a formal statement apologizing for the conduct of its under-23 team.

“We deeply regret that this behavior hurt the feelings of the Israeli delegation and demeaned the sporting success of the Swiss team with three medals at this U23 European Championships,” the statement read.

“We congratulate the Israeli team on their gold medal in the team competition,” it continued.

The association further noted that it will enter into discussion with the under-23 team and then “decide on any measures to be taken.”

It stressed that, “In principle, Swiss Fencing is of the opinion that sporting competitions are not suitable for expressing political opinions, even if athletes are of course allowed to have their personal opinions on world events.”