Four Israeli high school students competed remotely in the International Olympiad in Informatics held earlier this month in Egypt and won three gold medals and a bronze medal, the best achievement ever for an Israeli team.
Following the end of the competition, the IOI committee decided that next year Israel will not be able to participate as a country, but only be able to send four representatives who will compete under the Olympiad flag.
The committee's decision becomes the first international sanctions against Israel since the start of the war. The Ministry of Education hastened to clarify this Wednesday morning that this "will not happen."
The International Olympiad in Informatics was held this year in Alexandria, Egypt. Due to the security situation, the Israeli team was forced to compete remotely, and won three gold medals and one bronze medal. With its medal haul Israel placed second among 94 countries, Israel's best achievement since its first participation in the Olympiad in 1996.
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Israel's winning International Olympiad in Informatics team
(Photo: Ministry of Education and Center for Future Scientists)
In the statement delivered at the end of the Olympiad, the IOI announced that next year Israel will no longer be able to participate as a country in the competition. "This message is being sent to provide an update on a significant decision of the General Assembly of the IOI," wrote the president of the Olympiad, Sun Teck Tan.
"Members of the community requested that the IOI respond to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza caused by the ongoing conflict. During IOI 2024, the General Assembly debated many options at length. The question about what action to take, if any, was not taken lightly. The result was a vote to sanction Israel for its role in the crisis. Over two thirds of the delegations voted in favour of this action. Specifically, the action means that beginning in 2025, Israel will not be recognized as a participating delegation at IOI, but four contestants from Israel may still participate under the IOI flag," he wrote. "There will continue to be reflection and debate about the mission of the IOI and its connection to war and other international disputes."
The International Olympic Committee in athletics made a similar decision against Russia and Belarus following the invasion of Ukraine. A few Russian and Belarusian athletes did participate in the Olympic Games in Paris and the Paralympic Games held after them, but under the flags of the International Olympic Committee and the Paralympic Committee.
In recent months, the Palestinian Authority has pushed for the imposition of sanctions on Israel in soccer, and French lawmakers had called for Israel's exclusion from the Olympic Games in Paris and were rejected. Last week, the UN General Assembly approved a proposal for an arms embargo against Israel and the imposition of sanctions on it.
The Ministry of Education responded to the decision of the IOI, saying that "Israel will not be able to participate in the competition next year, but individually and not as an Israeli delegation under the Israeli flag? Not going to happen! The Israeli team will carry the Israeli flag proudly on the way to many more victories and international achievements. Nothing will not change this. The ministry is examining, in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, decisive measures on the issue."
The Israeli team included Daniel Weber, in the 12th grade at Ben Zvi High School in Kiryat Ono, who won gold and was ranked fourth in the world (the first Israeli with three gold medals in the competition and the first Israeli to win gold in two science Olympiads, mathematics and computer science, in the same year); Alon Tanai, a 12th grader at De-Shalit High School in Rehovot who won gold, and Itamar Nir, also a 12th grader at De-Shalit High School, who won a bronze.
Some 370 competitors from 94 countries around the world took part in the Olympiad. It included two days of competition, each lasting five hours, and the students were required to solve three algorithmic questions, which require thinking outside the box. They had to write code, which would lead to a solution. The Israelis competed remotely. Each competitor sat in a separate position, was monitored, the computer screens were recorded and the competitors were filmed while working.