Jewish World Watch applauds Biden administration’s planned diplomatic boycott of 2022 Winter Olympics

On Dec. 6 President Joe Biden’s administration announced it planned to stage a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. The decision was prompted by the administration’s view of China’s dismal record on human rights, magnified by its recent treatment of the Uyghurs, an ethnic minority in Xinjiang, China. More than 3 million Uyghurs, most of whom identify as Muslim, reportedly have been sent to internment camps. The U.S. and other countries have deemed China’s actions against the Uyghur people as genocide.

Jewish World Watch, (JWW) the Los Angeles-based nonprofit humanitarian organization that fights genocide and mass atrocities around the globe, applauded the administration’s decision in a statement, noting that the United States’ commitment to human rights is a step JWW activists and supporters have been pushing for since June.

“The 2022 Games, set in Beijing, will be held against a backdrop of human rights violations reminiscent of the Berlin Olympics of 1936,” Serena Oberstein, JWW executive director, said. “[The] announcement that the United States will refrain from sending any government officials to the Games denies China the highly veiled propaganda they seek as host. The presence of U.S. dignitaries would have falsely symbolized support for the regime’s inhumane policies regarding the Uyghur people.”

American athletes will compete as planned. China has said the boycott will be met with “firm countermeasures.”

In 1980, the U.S. ordered a boycott of the Summer Olympic Games, held in Moscow, to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

JWW is a leading member of the Berlin Beijing Coalition, a Jewish-led interfaith network demanding a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Olympics. It also held demonstrations around the city, including on the anniversary of Kristallnacht, and will continue to push for meaningful legislation to address the persecution of Uyghurs in East Turkestan and anywhere within reach of the Chinese Community Party. This includes the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (H.R. 1155), which will hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable and prevent American consumers from unwittingly financing the genocide and crimes against humanity relating to the Uyghur people.