{"id":581319,"date":"2026-02-18T13:11:38","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T13:11:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/media\/581319\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T13:11:38","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T13:11:38","slug":"israeli-bobsleigher-dismisses-olympics-diatribe-by-swiss-tv-commentator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/media\/581319\/","title":{"rendered":"Israeli bobsleigher dismisses Olympics &#8216;diatribe&#8217; by Swiss TV commentator"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n          <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/media\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AFP048514_00.pre.jpg\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t      An Israeli bobsleigher said on Tuesday he gave no credence whatsoever to the diatribe from a Swiss television commentator who had questioned the legitimacy of him competing at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.<br \/>  The commentator on Swiss channel RTS said Adam Edelman&#8217;s supportive comments of Israel&#8217;s more-than-two-year bombardment of Gaza, which has resulted in the deaths of over 70,000 people and the destruction of most of the territory&#8217;s infrastructure, should have resulted in him being barred from the Olympics.<br \/>  Edelman, first appearance at an Olympic Games, who defines himself and I quote &#8216;as a Zionist to the core&#8217;, remarked the commentator, Stefan Renna, as Edelman and teammate Menachem Chen began their two-man bobsleigh run on Monday.<br \/>  The commentator went on to tell viewers that Edelman had posted on social media in favour of the genocide in Gaza. I remind you that genocide is the term used by the United Nations commission of inquiry.<br \/>  A commission mandated by the United Nations and several NGOs, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have accused Israel of perpetrating a genocide in Gaza.<br \/>  Israel has responded by qualifying these claims as lies and anti-Semitic.<br \/>  Renna also commented that Edelman had said the Israeli military intervention was, I quote, the most morally justified war in history.<br \/>  He suggested Edelman should have been barred from the Milan-Cortina Games on the same basis that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) refused to allow Russian athletes to appear if they had made pro-war remarks regarding their country&#8217;s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.<br \/>  Edelman was furious and hit back on his Instagram account.<br \/>  I am aware of the diatribe the commentator directed towards the Israeli bobsled team on the Swiss Olympic broadcast today, he wrote.<br \/>  I can&#8217;t help but notice the contrast: Shul Runnings is a team of 6 proud Israelis who&#8217;ve made it to the Olympic stage, he said in a reference to the Israeli team&#8217;s nickname, a play on the film Cool Runnings about the debut of the Jamaican bobsleigh team at the 1988 Winter Olympics.<br \/>  No coach with us. No big program. Just a dream, grit and unyielding pride in who we represent.<br \/>  Working together towards such an incredible goal and crushing it. Because that&#8217;s what Israelis do.<br \/>  I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s possible to witness that and give credence to this commentary.<br \/>  The Israeli embassy in Switzerland reacted robustly to the commentary.<br \/>  We are deeply appalled by the blatant abuse of a live Olympic broadcast by a Swiss RTS journalist, the embassy posted on their X, formerly Twitter, account.<br \/>  They demanded action be taken against the journalist.<br \/>  @RadioTeleSuisse must publicly address this misconduct, issue a clear apology, and take decisive action against the journalist responsible.<br \/>  IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said it was not for them to comment.<br \/>  In terms of specific comments by a commentator, that is a matter you have to refer to the broadcaster, he said at the IOC daily briefing at the Winter Olympics.<br \/>  AFP has contacted RTS for a comment.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An Israeli bobsleigher said on Tuesday he gave no credence whatsoever to the diatribe from a Swiss television <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":581320,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[202194],"tags":[170717,217348,57721,217355,217350,19546,202488,26491,28910,84846,8310,82460,146572,217351,4526,178808,34827,93206,217352,27686,49237,2779,54955,4917,217356,24425,217349,28839,32089,217354,14391,28837,68332,31270,68528,217347,50949,217353,31281,28838,47733,22139],"class_list":{"0":"post-581319","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-170717","9":"tag-jiji","10":"tag-television","11":"tag-topics","12":"tag-topix","13":"tag-tv","14":"tag-tv-programs","15":"tag-26491","16":"tag-28910","17":"tag-84846","18":"tag-8310","19":"tag-82460","20":"tag-146572","21":"tag-217351","22":"tag-4526","23":"tag-178808","24":"tag-34827","25":"tag-93206","26":"tag-217352","27":"tag-27686","28":"tag-49237","29":"tag-2779","30":"tag-54955","31":"tag-4917","32":"tag-217356","33":"tag-24425","34":"tag-217349","35":"tag-28839","36":"tag-32089","37":"tag-217354","38":"tag-14391","39":"tag-28837","40":"tag-68332","41":"tag-31270","42":"tag-68528","43":"tag-217347","44":"tag-50949","45":"tag-217353","46":"tag-31281","47":"tag-28838","48":"tag-47733","49":"tag-22139"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/wakoka.com\/@media\/116091806439744191","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=581319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/581320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=581319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=581319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=581319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}