Israel at the 2024 Summer Paralympics

The Paris Games brought together approximately 4,400 athletes from 170 countries competing in 22 sports.[3] Israel entered the Games after winning nine medals at Tokyo 2020, including six gold medals, with rowing, swimming, and shooting among its established medal disciplines.[4][1]

Sources differed slightly on the delegation's size. The Jerusalem Post reported 28 athletes — 14 men and 14 women — while N12 listed 27 athletes, comprising 13 men and 14 women.[1][3] Both reported that the delegation included one Druze athlete and three Muslim athletes. Israel competed in swimming, rowing, taekwondo, goalball, wheelchair tennis, badminton, boccia, hand cycling, para canoe, and shooting.[2]

In June 2024, the Anti-Defamation League met with Israel's Olympic and Paralympic delegations to share best practices for handling potential incidents.[7] The Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs later reported that an Iranian cyber group had compromised a French company operating digital displays and attempted to show material condemning Israeli participation in the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games. The report also attributed threats against Israeli athletes and people close to them to the group.[8] JNS reported that Israel's teams faced threats and boycott efforts during the Games.[6]

Asaf Yasur opened Israel's medal campaign with gold in the men's under-58-kilogram para-taekwondo event. Yasur, who lost both arms in an electrocution accident around the age of 13, entered Paris as the world's top-ranked athlete in his category.[2][9] He beat Thailand's Thanwa Kaenkham 23–6 in the quarterfinal and Taiwan's Xiang Wen Xiao 16–6 in the semifinal before defeating Turkey's Ali Can Özcan in the final.[9] Yasur said the events of October 7 had given additional meaning to competing under Israel's flag and hearing the national anthem.[9]

Swimmer Ami Dadaon was Israel's most decorated athlete in Paris, winning four individual medals in the S4 and SM4 classifications. In the men's 100-meter freestyle, he set a Games record of 1:19.33 in the heats before winning the final in 1:20.25, nearly a second and a half ahead of his competitors.[2][10] He followed with gold in the 200-meter freestyle in 2:49.26, more than three seconds ahead of the silver medalist but outside his world record of 2:44.84.[11] That victory was described as his fourth Paralympic gold. Dadaon also won silver in the 150-meter individual medley and bronze in the 50-meter freestyle, completing a Paris tally of two gold, one silver, and one bronze.[2][12]

Rower Moran Samuel won the PR1 women's 2,000-meter single sculls in 10:25.40 after leading throughout the final. She had set a Games record of 9:58.02 in qualifying.[13] The gold completed a progression across three successive Paralympics following bronze at Rio 2016 and silver at Tokyo 2020. Shahar Milfelder and Saleh Shahin, both making their Paralympic debuts, won bronze in the mixed double sculls in 8:31.85.[2][13] Shahin said the pair had worked for two years to reach the Games and recalled hearing the Israeli anthem as Samuel won gold in a neighboring event.[14]

Israel's women's goalball team reached a Paralympic final for the first time. The squad of Liahi Ben David, Elham Mahamid, Noa Malka, Gal Hamrani, Or Mizrahi, and Roni Ohayon beat Canada in the quarterfinal and China 2–1 in the semifinal, with Ben David and Mahamid scoring against China.[2][15] The team finished with silver, giving Israel its first goalball medal and its first Paralympic team-sport medal since the men's volleyball team won silver in 1988.[4][6] The players wore yellow ribbons as a sign of solidarity with hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, while Malka said events in Israel had remained on the team's minds throughout the tournament.[15][16]

Guy Sasson won bronze in men's quad singles wheelchair tennis. He reached the semifinals after defeating Chile's Francisco Cayulef and Britain's Gregory Slade, then lost to the Netherlands' Sam Schroder.[17] In the bronze-medal match against Turkey's Ahmet Kaplan, Sasson recovered from losing the first set 5–7 and trailing 1–4 in the second to win the remaining sets 6–4 and 6–1.[18] It was Israel's first wheelchair-tennis medal since Noam Gershony's gold at London 2012. Swimmer Mark Malyar added bronze in the men's 100-meter backstroke.[15][18]

At the closing ceremony, Dadaon and goalball captain Gal Hamrani carried Israel's flag. Hamrani was accompanied by her guide dog, Dylan.[19]

Israel's ten medals at Paris 2024 were distributed across four sports:[4][19]

• Gold: Ami Dadaon, swimming, 100-meter freestyle S4 and 200-meter freestyle S4; Moran Samuel, rowing, women's single sculls PR1; Asaf Yasur, taekwondo, men's under-58 kilograms.
• Silver: Ami Dadaon, swimming, 150-meter individual medley SM4; Israel's women's goalball team.
• Bronze: Ami Dadaon, swimming, 50-meter freestyle S4; Mark Malyar, swimming, 100-meter backstroke; Shahar Milfelder and Saleh Shahin, rowing, mixed double sculls; Guy Sasson, wheelchair tennis, quad singles.

The Knesset Research and Information Center recorded Israel in 30th place among 170 participating countries, while Sport5 listed the delegation in 29th place.[4][5] The ten-medal total was Israel's first double-digit Paralympic haul since Athens 2004, where it won 13 medals, and exceeded its nine-medal performance at Tokyo 2020.[4]

The ten-medal result was Israel's strongest Paralympic showing in two decades and included the country's first Paralympic medals in taekwondo and goalball.[6] The goalball silver was Israel's first Paralympic team-sport medal in 36 years and represented a breakthrough for a team eliminated in the quarterfinals at both Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.[15][6]

Several athletes connected their performances to events in Israel. Yasur spoke about representing the country after the October 7 attacks, while the goalball team's ribbons and Malka's comments linked its campaign to the hostages held in Gaza.[9][15] The delegation also included Jewish, Druze, and Muslim athletes competing together across its ten sports.[1][3]

Accounts of Israel's participation emphasized both its sporting achievements and the political and security environment surrounding the Games. The Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs interpreted the reported cyber operations against Israeli athletes as part of a wider cognitive-warfare campaign, while JNS described the delegation as facing threats and boycott efforts during the war against Hamas in Gaza.[8][6]

Contemporary sources contain several discrepancies. The delegation was reported as either 27 or 28 athletes, and Israel's final medal-table position was listed as either 29th or 30th.[4][1][3][5] The Jewish Virtual Library correctly lists ten individual medal results but summarizes them as four gold, two silver, and two bronze, even though the individual results include four bronze medals.[2] Sport5 also calls Dadaon's silver-medal race a 1,500-meter medley, whereas ynet and the Jewish Virtual Library identify it as the 150-meter individual medley SM4; the latter distance is used here.[2][5][12]