Egyptian Refuses to Shake Hand of Israeli Who Beat Him in Olympics Judo

Or Sasson of Israel defeated Islam El Shehaby of Egypt in the Olympic judo round of 32. After the match, Sasson went to shake El Shehaby’s hand, but was denied:

" #Israel Sasson beats Egyptian Islam El Shehaby in 1st rnd #judo event. Egyptian then refuses to shake his hand. pic.twitter.com/WRQ1Gpd29m — Stanislaw (@stas8t) August 12, 2016 "

We do not know and may not find out the specifics behind this decision on El Shehaby’s part. It’s possible that this happened just because he was upset at the loss.

However, Egypt and Israel share a border, and it goes without saying that their history has been rife with conflict. While recent relations have been nominally strong between Israel and Egypt from a government diplomacy perspective – unlike many Islamic countries, Egypt recognizes Israel – this does not mean that all feelings are hunky dory amongst the citizenries.

[Video via @stas8t]