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Israel’s participation in the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympic Games is hanging in the balance just weeks before the opening ceremony, as a bureaucratic passport crisis threatens to derail the country’s already small delegation.
The Games are set to open on February 6 at San Siro Stadium in Milan, with around 90 countries expected to participate. Yet uncertainty surrounds whether Israel will be able to send a full team, or any meaningful delegation at all.
At the heart of the issue are three qualified athletes who currently do not hold permanent Israeli passports, a requirement under international Olympic regulations to represent a country at the Games.
The Olympic Committee of Israel has confirmed that figure skater Mariia Seniuk, who met the international qualifying standard, was selected to carry Israel’s flag during the opening ceremony.
However, Seniuk’s participation is now in serious doubt. She is among the athletes unable to secure an Israeli passport due to legal and administrative barriers within the Interior Ministry.
The other affected athletes are skeleton racer Jared Firestone and cross-country skier Attila Mihaly Kertesz, both of whom have also achieved Olympic qualification standards.
According to the Olympic Committee, the athletes’ passport applications require approval from a serving interior minister. That position is currently vacant, leaving the process frozen.
Without an Israeli passport, the athletes are barred under international law from competing for Israel at the Olympic Games, regardless of their sporting achievements.
Olympic Committee of Israel chairwoman Yael Arad, who is also a member of the International Olympic Committee, described the situation as unprecedented and deeply troubling.
“This is a case I don’t remember ever happening,” Arad said. “Our athletes are effectively hostages because of a legal change made a few years ago.”
Israeli law generally restricts the issuance of passports to citizens who do not spend a required amount of time residing in the country. Instead, such citizens are issued a temporary travel document known as a “teudat ma’avar.”
Ironically, winter sports athletes are disproportionately affected by this rule. Israel lacks snow-covered natural training facilities, forcing athletes to live and train abroad for much of the year.
As a result, they fail to meet residency requirements for permanent passports, despite representing Israel internationally and competing under its flag. Arad said the timing has amplified the stress on athletes who have dedicated years to reaching the Olympic stage.
“We are five weeks from the start of the Games, and after months of dealing with this, we are almost begging for a signature,” she said. “This is unacceptable.”
She warned that failure to resolve the issue would effectively erase Israel’s presence from the Games. “If we do not receive passports, there will not be a real delegation,” Arad said. “This would be a failure. It must not happen.”
Olympic Committee CEO Gili Lustig echoed those concerns, calling the situation a major national embarrassment. “All that’s needed is a signature so they can receive passports,” Lustig said. “The delegation is small as it is. Without state help, this becomes a major crisis.”
The matter has been under review for several months. With no permanent interior minister in office, appeals have been made to Minister of Culture and Sports Miki Zohar and even to President Isaac Herzog.
Despite the high-level involvement, no resolution has yet been reached. The prime minister cannot directly intervene due to a declared conflict of interest.
Arad stressed that the issue extends beyond sports and into Israel’s standing on the global stage. “Israeli sport is an ambassador for the State of Israel,” she said. “We have a responsibility and a right to raise Israeli flags everywhere in the world.”
Her comments come amid heightened sensitivity to Israel’s international positioning following the war, with sports seen as a key diplomatic and symbolic platform. Israel is not traditionally a winter sports nation and has never won a medal at the Winter Olympics. By contrast, it has won 20 medals at the Summer Games.
Still, Arad emphasized that athletes who reach Olympic standards deserve institutional backing regardless of medal expectations. “These athletes have a dream,” she said. “They reached the highest level, and we support them.”
The Winter Olympics will feature eight sports and 16 disciplines, with approximately 2,900 athletes competing across 13 venues in Italy. The Israeli Olympic Committee initially expected to send between five and nine athletes, depending on final qualifications and logistical arrangements.
Israel sent six athletes to the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing and 10 to the 2018 Games, its largest winter delegation to date. In comparison, 88 athletes represented Israel at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.
Head of mission Yarden Har-Lev outlined the potential lineup, pending passport approval and final confirmations. “In alpine skiing, Noa Szollos and Barnabas Szollos are expected to compete,” she said. “In cross-country skiing, Attila Kertesz. In skeleton, Jared Firestone.”
Bobsleigh athlete AJ Edelman is also under consideration for the two-man or four-man events, though his participation remains uncertain. Edelman qualified while competing alongside non-Israeli teammates, raising additional concerns within the Olympic Committee.
The committee has made clear it will not allow Olympic qualification to be secured by non-citizens on Israel’s behalf. “The qualification must be achieved by athletes who truly represent Israel,” Arad said. “We are no longer going just to participate.”
Lustig reinforced that stance with a blunt analogy, comparing it to fielding foreign sprinters to qualify for Israeli relay teams. “That is not relevant and not appropriate,” he said. “The minimum requirement is that whoever qualifies is an Israeli athlete.”
As of now, the official Olympic registration deadline is January 26, 2026, leaving little time for resolution. “We expect progress by then,” an Israeli Olympic Committee official said. “Otherwise, the delegation will almost not exist.”
For Israeli athletes who have trained for years abroad, often with limited resources, the stakes could not be higher. If the passport impasse remains unresolved, Israel’s Winter Olympic hopes may collapse not on the slopes or ice, but in the corridors of bureaucracy.