A Colorado High School basketball coach was suspended after being seen hanging on a Palestinian flag, and after refusing to shake hands with the opposing coach after a match against a Jewish school last week.
The Lotus school for excellence in Aurora and the Denver Torah Academy clashed on January 22. The Lotus School told Denver 9 News that the team’s head coach, only identified as coach O., had released a Palestinian flag before the match and hung up.
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The Palestinian flag flying on a mast against a blue sky. (istock)
The school said that after the match, the coach had reacted again to the flag before going to the handshake line. The coach would not have managed to shake hands with Denver Torah coaches.
“He catches his flag and puts it around his neck,” said sports director of the Lotus school, Deon Jackson, at the station. “We saw the intention at that time.”
Emrek Bakyt, the school director, announced that the coach had been suspended with another assistant coach, according to the New York Post.
“It has nothing to do with Lotus,” said Bakyt. “This does not represent us, and we are once again on respect and diversity. This is what we celebrate. This is what we are proud.”
Brandon Rattiner, member of the Jewish Community Council Relations, condemned the coach’s actions in an interview with the New York Post.
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Rattiner added that he thought that the “key problem” was when the coach refused to shake hands with the Jewish coaches.
The assistant trainer were both suspended. (Images Lance King / Getty)
“The key problem here is when the coach refuses to engage with a Jewish coach and Jewish students simply because they are Jewish or hold them personally responsible for a conflict started, and not by Israel, to the other Bout of the world around the world thousands and thousands of kilometers away, “he said.
“The holding of the Jewish people responsible for the actions of the State of Israel is a form of anti -Semitism manual.”
