Iran: Weightlifter Gets Banned for Life from Sport for Shaking Hands with Israeli

This could actually be a bit excessive.

He might have worried about getting penalized for unsportsmanlike behavior or something if he didn’t shake the Jew’s hand.

CNN:

An Iranian professional weightlifter received a lifetime ban from competing after shaking the hand of an Israeli athlete during an international competition, according to an Iranian state news agency.

Weightlifting champion Mostafa Rajaee, 36, was filmed shaking hands and posing for a picture with Israel’s Maksim Svirsky at the World Master Weightlifting Championships in Poland this week, according to a video published by Iran’s state-run news agency IRNA Wednesday.

Rajaee, who won the silver medal at the competition, was banned for life from all sports for actions described by the head of Iran’s weightlifting federation as “unacceptable and unforgivable.”

The head of the expedition, Hamid Salehinia, was also removed from his position, state outlet Tasnim reported.

In an Instagram post after the event, Rajaee thanked “everyone who helped me along the way [for finishing second]” but did not comment on either the handshake or his subsequent ban.

Iran does not recognize Israel as a country and regularly issues hostile statements, while Iranian athletes have long been prohibited by the government from competing against Israelis.

Regardless, I would prefer if my government was obsessively hateful towards the Jews, rather than obsessive Jew-suckers.

Iran proves that you can have a government that is against the Jews, totally.

Now that Iran is friends with Saudi Arabia – thanks to Emperor Xi! – maybe Saudi can return to its roots of Jew-hatred?

Someday… someday, maybe America can do the same.