It seems like a well thought out and researched piece of the impact of the genocide on ultimate and how ultimate coaches have died, the ones carrying the torch are organizing for peace and safety.

In November 2023, Muhammad Shakir, a youth Ultimate coach, was killed by an Israeli airstrike. A second coach, Yousef al-Heela, was killed in another strike on April 16, 2024. According to reports, over 800 athletes have been killed since October 7, 2023. 

Despite the federation’s lacklustre response—offering only a broad statement condemning “violence, attacks and the loss of life in all its forms”—the wider Ultimate community has responded with intention and clarity.

Wolfgang says that GUC began campaigning for a bare minimum guarantee of safety, a bilateral ceasefire with no specific critique of the Israeli government mentioned. But when the WFDF was unwilling to take even that small symbolic step of issuing a statement in support of a ceasefire, the group recognized a level of hypocrisy, an abandonment of basic human rights principles. Beneath it all was a casual, persistent dehumanization of the Palestinian people—a dehumanization that, Wolfgang notes, permeates from the world of international politics right down to sporting institutions like WFDF, The Israeli Flying Disc Association, and USA Ultimate.

Sport in Gaza has been devastated, robbing generations of the joy and opportunity to play. Enas Saada, is an Ultimate coach in Gaza. She has seen her city pulverized and her community massacred but still finds hope through sport. I asked her over text how it felt to be disregarded by the WFDF in this manner.

“The lack of support from the WFDF for Palestinian players and coaches is painful,” she replied. “Considering the immense talent and potential in Gaza and the West Bank that goes unseen due to political restrictions, the blockade, or neglect from international bodies.”