The Israel-haters are waxing lyrical about Abdel Rahim Al-Talib Muhammad, a 14-year-old Mauritanian chess player who pulled out of the Junior World Cup because the draw set him up to face an Israeli player. He was quoted as saying “I decided to retire, because I refuse to play with a representative of a fictional country that in reality does not exist.”
This is funny coming from someone from a country that started off as a French colony, and only became independent in 1960, from which time it has experienced recurrent coups and periods of authoritarian military rule. Not to mention a country with a terrible human rights record, including its continued practice of slavery,
…mistreatment of detainees and prisoners; security force impunity; lengthy pretrial detention; harsh prison conditions; arbitrary arrests; limits on freedom of the press and assembly; corruption; discrimination against women; female genital mutilation (FGM); child marriage; political marginalization of southern-based ethnic groups; racial and ethnic discrimination; slavery and slavery-related practices; and child labor.
I am guessing the child was forced to withdraw.
