Twelve days after Egyptian judoka Islam El Shehaby refused to shake the hand of his Israeli opponent, the country is again up in arms over one of its Olympic athletes, and Israel is again the reason. This time, after recently participating in a beach volleyball match in Rio, female athlete Doaa Elghobashy photographed herself posing with a fan draped in an Israeli flag. The photo was posted to the Facebook page of the Israeli Embassy in Egypt, and to the web page of pro-Israel organization Stand With Us, which reported that it received the photo from one of its members in Brazil. The 19-year-old Elghobashy, who had already made headlines at the Olympics for playing in a hijab (a veil that covers the head and chest), responded by saying she did not notice the Israeli flag. She told reporters: "This is a conspiracy against me. If I had known that flag would be in the picture, I would not have taken it." She also suggested that "it's possible this picture was edited in Photoshop and the flag was inserted there to try and hurt me." Several commenters on social media sites in Egypt vilified Elghobashy, but there were those who came to her defense. "They asked to take a picture with her. She acted with generosity and tolerance, as is expected of an Egyptian. How could she have known that the fan who asked to take a picture with her was Jewish and would pull out an Israeli flag from behind her back-" This year's games marked the first time Egypt qualified for either a women's or men's beach volleyball tournament at the Olympics.
X
שיתוף כתבה
Egyptian athlete takes photo with Israeli flag, sparks outrage
Beach volleyball player Doaa Elghobashy says she did not notice the Israeli flag • "This is a conspiracy against me. If I had known that flag would be in the picture, I would not have taken it," she says, suggesting the "picture was edited in Photoshop."