Barely 24 hours after the public black eye that came along with Malaysia’s being stripped of hosting duties for the upcoming World Para Swimming Championships — fallout from its ban on Israeli para athletes — a sorry subsection of netizens are doing their best to make sure it doesn’t heal.

A Facebook cesspool has been busily forming on the (now deleted) page of Bart Kizierowski, the man who had been slated to take over the national swimming coach position here in Malaysia, only to turn it down in recent days over our country’s decision to bar Israeli athletes.

Thousands of comments have since littered his page, ranging from run-of-the-mill profanity to virulently anti-Semitic remarks (usually both!).

Turns out some of us (Bart) just can’t take a job in good conscience knowing that a certain level of sportsmanship is not being respected.

Here is a screencap from his Facebook page explaining his rationale for turning down the role.

While the view that Malaysia’s decision to ban Israeli athletes from a Paralympic swimming qualifier in Kuching was in conflict with Olympic principals was one shared by many of our country’s citizens, it seems some on the other side of the debate just can’t handle the consequences.

Namely, that an international athlete who has competed in several global championships throughout his career, whose home country was ravaged by Nazis, and Jewish extermination camps (Yeah, Auschwitz is in Poland and nearly 3 million Polish Jews died in World War II), might find Malaysia’s decision to ban Israeli athletes in conflict with his worldview.

Prior to being taken offline, visiting Bart’s page was to be met with a ridiculous lag, as his wall was being continuously spammed by an army of trolls, and those threatening his life should he ever step foot in Malaysia. At this rate, why would he ever want to?

A complete embarrassment to our country’s moderate citizens; an affront on our collective powers of logic; and yet another red-faced moment on the public stage.

Support Palestine, refuse to recognize Israel’s right to exist, but for the love of God — keep your death threats and anti-Semitism to yourselves, folks.

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