Police told us it was safe to race, says Israel team coach

Israeli athletes who were withdrawn from a race in Londonderry had been given assurances from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) that it was safe to take part, the national team coach has said.

The four athletes were withdrawn from the Europe Triathlon Cup on Thursday after local organisers raised possible safety concerns about their participation.

Lior Cohen, the Israeli Triathlon Association's high performance director and national coach, said that had come as "a total surprise" to him and the four athletes due to compete.

On Monday, a PSNI spokeswoman said they did not provide any security advice around the event and were not involved in organising it.

Speaking to BBC Radio Foyle's North West Today programme, Cohen said he had been in discussion with the police in the two weeks before the race and that there had "been no issue until early morning Thursday".

Until then, Cohen said, police had told him "everything is as scheduled" and that "we can compete under our official uniform on Saturday and we can continue our training as planned."

On Thursday, the PSNI told BBC News NI it had "become aware of potential protest activity in relation to the event".

Cohen said the first he became aware of any issues about the Israeli athletes' participation was via a WhatsApp message from the local organisers in which they raised some "red flags" about safety.

"I must tell you that I was totally in shock and really, really surprised," he said.

"I'm coach for the last 14 years. I've been travelling with my athletes all over the world and this is the very first time that we met this kind of issue," Cohen added.

Speaking to BBC Radio Foyle's Mark Patterson Show on Friday, Ian Cullen from the North West Triathlon Club (NWTC) said the participation of the Israeli athletes in the race would be unsafe for them and potentially all those taking part.

He added that the decision involved the police, Triathlon Ireland, Europe Triathlon and the Israeli federation, and went "well above our local organising level".

The Israeli Triathlon Association (ITA) is now considering legal action over the withdrawal of its athletes.

It said it had "extremely serious concerns about discriminatory treatment and antisemitism" over the NWTC's stance.

Cohen said the team left Derry an hour after the ITA withdrew the athletes.

"We are athletes, we came to compete, we came to give a performance and not be eliminated because of ethnicity or nationality."

It is not the first time on the island of Ireland that difficulties have arisen around a sports event involving Israel since it began its war in Gaza in 2023.

In football, the Republic of Ireland is due to play Israel in Uefa's Nations League later this month.

But in May an open letter from Irish Sport For Palestine, signed by 39 people including former Ireland manager Brian Kerr and music stars Paul Weller and Bobby Gillespie, called on Ireland's football authorities to boycott the games.

The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) has said it will fulfil the fixtures.

There has been controversy, too, around Israel's participation in the Eurovision Song Contest, with Ireland earlier this year boycotting the contest over the European Broadcasting Union's (EBU's) decision to allow Israel to participate.

The Gaza war was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, when about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

Since then, more than 73,460 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the UN.