{"id":91164,"date":"2026-01-12T17:05:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T22:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=91164"},"modified":"2026-01-12T17:06:03","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T22:06:03","slug":"israeli-judokas-face-alleged-antisemitic-abuse-in-poland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/israeli-judokas-face-alleged-antisemitic-abuse-in-poland\/","title":{"rendered":"Israeli judokas face alleged antisemitic abuse in Poland"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By JNS STAFF<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-meta-str\"><span class=\"light-weight-content\">(<em>JNS.org<\/em><\/span><span class=\"light-weight-content\">) \u2013&nbsp;<\/span>Israeli athletes were assaulted and accosted with antisemitic chants during a judo contest in Poland on Saturday, according to the Israeli Embassy in Warsaw.<\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_91167\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/judo-1320x880-1.webp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-91167\" class=\"wp-image-91167 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/judo-1320x880-1-300x200.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/judo-1320x880-1-300x200.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/judo-1320x880-1-1024x683.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/judo-1320x880-1-768x512.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/judo-1320x880-1.webp 1320w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/200;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-91167\" class=\"wp-image-91167 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/judo-1320x880-1-300x200.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/judo-1320x880-1-300x200.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/judo-1320x880-1-1024x683.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/judo-1320x880-1-768x512.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/judo-1320x880-1.webp 1320w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-91167\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Israelis train during a judo practice in Ramat Gan, Israel on July 5, 2024. (Photo by Dor Pazuelo\/FLASH90)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">dThe incident occurred at an international tournament featuring athletes aged seven to 16 in Bielsko-Bia\u0142a, a city located approximately 30 miles southwest of Krak\u00f3w, according to the embassy\u2019s statement on X.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Israeli judo team was \u201cattacked verbally and physically,\u201d the embassy said. \u201cThere is no place for violence or antisemitic slurs of any kind, particularly in sport,\u201d the statement continued.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Israeli witnesses told&nbsp;<em>Channel 14<\/em>&nbsp;that the crowd shouted \u201cFree Palestine\u201d and \u201chere come the Jews.\u201d After two Israeli coaches approached the judges\u2019 panel, local men shouted at them and then shoved and hit them in front of the children.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At least one Israeli group was then ejected from the tournament and a four-day training camp,&nbsp;<em>Channel 14<\/em> reported, in what the Israelis said was an inverted disciplinary move that punished the victims.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The event was livestreamed, and the altercation was captured in real time and broadcast online to some of the parents of the competing judokas. The footage showed men shoving each other in a sports hall with boys walking around the area, but the fixed camera did not show how the incident began.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In its statement, the Israeli embassy called on Polish authorities to punish the instigators of the incident, but Bielsko-Bia\u0142a Police spokesman Deputy Commissioner S\u0142awomir Kocur told the Polish&nbsp;<em>TV24<\/em>&nbsp;station that officers who\u2019d arrived at the scene on Saturday evening confirmed the tournament organizers\u2019 version that the Israeli coach initiated the physical contact.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe inquired with the parties [\u2026] and informed them about the possibility of filing a complaint. Neither did so. [\u2026] The parties calmed down,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tomasz Chmielniak, president of the Bielsko-Bia\u0142a Janosik club, which organizes the judo tournament, told the Polish television station that \u201cyoung Israeli judo players were certainly not attacked\u201d and that, \u201cIf anyone was attacked, it was the referee by an Israeli coach.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He added that \u201cThe Israeli club was excluded from the competition because they behaved aggressively; they did not practice fair play.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This was the 14th time Bielsko-Bia\u0142a has hosted the international tournament, titled \u201cWe Overcome Boundaries.\u201d This year featured athletes from 15 countries. Israel was represented there for the first time this year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the two clubs from Israel continued to compete in the tournament and won several medals, said Chmielniak.<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Israeli%20judokas%20face%20alleged%20antisemitic%20abuse%20in%20Poland\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":91167,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,27],"tags":[8790,8795,8788,413,51],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91164"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91164"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91168,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91164\/revisions\/91168"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}