Former world champion Yarden Gerbi and reigning European champion Sagi Muki won bronze medals for Israel in the women’s under 63 kilogram and men’s under 73kg categories respectively, but were made to wear uniforms with IJF insignia while competing. 

Israeli athletes competing in the Arab world have at times been asked to hide their country’s flag in exchange for visas to enter certain countries, while in other instances, local organisers decline to display Israel’s flag, sometimes drawing criticism.

As well as calling an emergency meeting to discuss the issue, Regev has also asked Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to help her in the fight to avoid similar occurrences in the future.

"The banning of the Israel flag in an international competition of this magnitude is a failure which I will not overlook," Regev told The Jerusalem Post.

"I plan to recruit all the forces in Israel, including the Prime Minister and Israeli diplomacy, in order to prevent a ban on Israeli sport, and the values and symbols of this country.

"We will not compromise on this matter. 

"The athletes are not at fault, they are our ambassadors.

"We stand behind them and are committed to enable them to raise the flag and sing the national anthem with pride and without fear."

Israel Judo Association President Moshe Ponti believes the UAE did not want to let the Israelis compete until a number of conditions were met.

"We went through a series of correspondence and talks with relevant officials in order to come and compete in Abu Dhabi," he told the Israeli sports website One.

"We got visas on the condition that no stories about this would be published in the Israeli and international media, and this on its own was a hard mission to meet."

Ponti said he would rather the team compete without its insignia than give up on the possibility of bringing "a historic medal for the Judo Association and the State of Israel".

"As head of the association and a proud Israeli, I will continue striving to enable members of this association to participate and win every tournament anywhere in the world," he added.

Both Gerbi and Muki, who competed under the IJF flag in Abu Dhabi along with six other Israeli judokas, defended their decisions to participate in the event.

"Even though we competed without the flag, [Israel] is on the map," Muki told Army Radio.

"The flag is always in my heart."

Gerbi wrote on Facebook after the tournament that the Israeli team had been trying to compete in the Abu Dhabi tournament for six years but "for these or other reasons it never happened".

She claimed Ponti’s decision to agree to compete under the IJF flag was "courageous" before describing how she felt when she learned she would not be competing with an Israeli flag. 

"The feeling deep in my heart was painful, as an Israeli patriot, but when I thought about it, it is so important to compete, everyone knows where I come from, where I grew up," she said.

Last month, Israel's Maayan Davidovich competed at the RS:X World Windsurfing Championships while wearing the International Surfing Association’s RS:X emblem and not the Israeli flag.

insidethegames has attempted to contact the IJF for a comment and is awaiting their response.

To watch the latest action on Judo TV click here.



Related stories
November 2015: Olympic champion Khaibulaev steps up Rio 2016 quest with victory on final day of IJF Abu Dhabi Grand Slam
October 2015: Ivanov carves name into Bulgarian history after winning gold at IJF Abu Dhabi Grand Slam
October 2015: Russia's Dolgova claims maiden IJF Grand Slam title in Abu Dhabi
October 2015: World champion Smetov set to return to action at IJF Abu Dhabi Grand Slam