Graf Sampras - I get where you are comming from (I may not agree but I understand it).
However, I have a problem with the way Dubai handled this. If they had wanted to make a political and/or human rights statement, so be it. But, IMHO, the essence of making such a decision is to do so while ACCEPTING the consequences of standing up for that principle.
While what happened in Gaza occurred after they had agreed to host the event, there nonetheless was sufficient time following Gaza for Dubai to stand up and say they would not be allowing Israeli players' visas. Had they done that, then the onus would have been on the WTA and the ATP to make the decision as to whether to move the event out of Dubai or to take some other action.
The problem is Dubai did not do this - they tried to have their cake and to eat it too, if you will. This is not principled action IMHO. When Ghandi and Martin Luther King acted, they did so having accepted the fact that their actions for the greater good would mean they would have to accept the consequences of those actions which, for them and many of their followers, meant jail and imprisonment.
That is principle. That is standing up for what you believe at any cost.
Dubai further undermined it's position by granting Ram a visa - for if they were standing on principle and were really uniting behind the "Hamas" cause, then they would have been willing to accept the consequences that they would have faced from the ATP tour.
Sorry if that offends but it's really how I see it. We are entitled to stand up for rights we believe in but we lose credibility when we are not willing to accept the consequences that taking such an action entails.
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