3 min readFeb 18, 2026 10:44 AM IST The Winter Olympics was mired in another controversy after a Swiss commentator used a Winter Games broadcast to accuse an Israeli athlete of backing “genocide in Gaza” — triggering outrage from the athlete himself and the U.S. ambassador to Israel. During live coverage on Radio Télévision Suisse, commentator Stefan Renna zeroed in on Israeli bobsleigh pilot Adam Edelman as the two-man team completed their second qualifying run. Renna declared: “Adam Edelman, first-time Olympian and self-defined Zionist to the core, who has posted several messages on social networks in support of genocide in Gaza. Genocide is the term used by the UN Commission of Inquiry into the region. Edelman described the Israeli military intervention as, and I quote, ‘The most morally just war in history’.” He then invoked the case of Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych, disqualified over his “helmet of memory” tribute to athletes killed since Russia’s invasion, adding: “Just goes to show sport is obviously eminently political.” The backlash was immediate. Edelman blasted what he called …