French basketball star steps down from Olympics role over anti-Israel Instagram post
PARIS — Emilie Gomis, a French former professional basketball player who clinched silver during the 2012 London Games, is no longer one of the Paris 2024 Games’ ambassadors after drawing controversy with an anti-Israel post on Instagram.
Two days after the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants, Gomis posted an Instagram story featuring a map of France in 1947, 1967 and 2023 slowly being covered by an Israeli flag, with the caption reading “what would you do in this situation?”
The Games’ ambassadors, all former athletes, are to represent French regions and engage with local institutions ahead of the event.
Gomis’ post “breached required neutrality” and made it impossible for her to “continue on with her tasks,” the Games’ organizing committee wrote in a statement, nonetheless underlining that the retired point guard had “condemned the October 7 attacks against Israel and all forms of antisemitism and discrimination” and expressed regret over her publication.
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“Gomis, in a shared concern for appeasement and responsibility, has tendered her resignation,” the statement reads.
The CRIF, France’s main Jewish federation, had deemed the post “an insult to humanism and Olympic values,” and shared its concern with French Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castera.
In a late December interview with sports daily L’Equipe, Gomis rebuked claims of antisemitism and called out what she deemed a “witch hunt.”
Her lawyers had previously argued that their client sought to invite the post’s viewers to reflect on the “consequences of colonial reasoning” in a format adapted to social media, but said Gomis acknowledged her actions were inappropriate and wished to remain in service of France and Olympic values.