It is always regrettable when sporting tournaments are overshadowed by wider concerns, but the decision to withdraw four Israeli athletes from involvement in the Europe Triathlon Cup in Derry at the weekend was unquestionably the correct one.

While the event is an important competition in its sector, it pales into insignificance when it is compared to the brutal campaign of genocide inflicted by Israel on the people of Palestine for almost three years.

There was no possible justification for the attack by Hamas on southern Israel almost three years ago which resulted in some 1,200 deaths, but the prolonged response by the Israeli government has been appalling in every way.

Almost 75,000 people, the majority of them women and children, have been killed by the Israel Defence Forces, which has indiscriminately and........

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