I feel really naive today! I was sure that after worldwide media coverage AND especialy after sponsors had pulled funds & TV contracts fizzled that Shahar Peer would be allowed into the UAE. After all – the UAE is a country that seems to be moving away from oil and staking its future on International tourism. They’ve been advertising worldwide & have poured unfathomable amounts into Dubia… Then again, judging by much of the world’s silence it seems the Jews must fend for themselves. Amnesty? B’tselem? Human Rights Watch? Anti-racism groupts? ACLU? UN? ANYONE?!

From Backspin:

The UAE is taking a media battering over its decision to ban Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer. And the Dubai tournament at the heart of the matter isn’t doing too great, either. First, Tennis Channel pulled the plug on international broadcasts in disgust for Peer’s treatment. Then, Wall Street Journal Europe yanked its sponsorship, along with a special tennis-themed advertising section it had planned.

Most interestingly, the WSJ said it was motivated to act because the affair contradicts the paper’s editorial policies. “The Wall Street Journal’s editorial philosophy is free markets and free people, and this action runs counter to the Journal’s editorial direction,” the paper said in a statement.

In an op-ed in yesterday’s paper, the WSJ keep up the pressure, rejecting UAE’s claim that security (Peer’s, that is) and not politics was the primary motivation for keeping the country Jew-free:

With this kind of high-profile discrimination taking place, one can’t help but wonder where the boycott folks have gone. I remember protest movements proclaiming “no one is free unless everyone is free.” Unless you hold an Israeli passport, apparently.