Newsletter
Newsletter Support JNS

Israeli tennis player defiantly wears yellow ribbon at Australian Open

The gesture follows the event organizers’ ban on wearing a yellow pin calling for the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

Lina Glushko
Lina Glushko wears a yellow ribbon in her hair ahead of a match in Auckland, New Zealand, on Jan. 6, 2024. Photo courtesy of the Israeli Tennis Association.

Israeli tennis player Lina Glushko wore a yellow ribbon in her hair to an international match in Australia after organizers forbade her from wearing a pin, which organizers considered a political statement, during the competition, Israel’s Channel 14 reported on Tuesday.

Glushko’s move during a qualifying match for the Australian Open followed protests against her at a previous tournament in New Zealand. Protesters opposed the presence of Glushko, a former IDF soldier, at the 2025 ASB Classic in Auckland and briefly interrupted the matches.

In New Zealand, Glushko, ranked 207th in the world, lost a match to four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka, ending her participation in the tournament.

Glushko will not compete in the Australian Open main draw after losing her match to Léolia Jeanjean 1-6, 6-2, 6-1.

Mari Leavitt, a Democratic state representative, told JNS that the public university “used extremely poor judgment” by inviting Piker and erred by not including mention of Piker’s “dangerous rhetoric” in the initial event announcement.
“I’m seeing what’s going on in New York,” Stav Cohen, founder of the Israeli nonprofit Frontline Advocates, told JNS. “I fear for my speakers’ lives.”
“Calling it ‘settler violence’ is a provocation” which “denies our connection to the land of Israel” and “distracts from constant terrorist attacks against Israelis,” said Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon.
State Assembly member Francesca Hong, who has accused Israel of “genocide,” lost the Democratic primary after polls suggested that she held a double-digit lead.