After the handshake scandal at the Fencing World Championships in Bern: bomb threat at the Israeli team hotel

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Last weekend the Fencing World Cup took place in Gümligen BE. What especially caused a stir was an unsportsmanlike scene between the Egyptian Mahmoud Mohsen (28) and the Israeli Daniel Fridman (27). The Egyptian refused to shake hands with the Israeli after the fight in protest.

What then remained completely under the radar: After the tournament, the Israeli team was not allowed to return to the hotel for hours – due to a dangerous situation due to a bomb threat.

“When we wanted to go back to our hotel on Sunday evening, we were suddenly stopped by our bodyguards,” said Sasha Ivanov, head coach of the Israeli national team. The team was accommodated in the “Harry’s Home Hotel” in Ostermundigen BE. The fact that the fencers have their own security team from the National Security Service is nothing unusual for Israeli athletes at this point. Since the outbreak of war, the situation has been too tense to rely solely on local security measures.

The team remained calm

«We returned to the training hall accompanied by our security team. There, about ten Bernese police officers led us back to the changing rooms because we were safe there,” the coach continues. The Israeli fencers had to wait in the changing rooms for six hours while police apparently searched the hotel for a bomb.

“It was a very unpleasant situation for the team,” says Ivanov. “But there was never any panic. We are Israelis, so to some extent we are unfortunately used to such conditions.” Still, it was the first time for all the athletes to find themselves in such an uncomfortable situation. There was great relief when the police gave the green light and it team was allowed to return to the hotel.

Organizers know nothing

The organizers of the World Cup in Bern had not noticed much of the fuss, says OK chairman Markus Burkhalter. The organizers have not been officially informed of an incident, not even by the police. “There were rumors that the Israeli team was not allowed to return to their hotel. But we were already in the middle of dismantling work, so I couldn’t chase rumors.”

No special security measures were taken for the Israeli team during the international fencing tournament. “We assumed that the authorities would contact us if necessary,” Burkhalter explains. According to Blick’s request, the police of the canton of Bern have not yet issued a statement about the alleged bomb attack in Ostermundigen.

Source : Blick