The Inside Story of World Climbing’s Vote on Suspending Israel, Russia, and Belarus
- Matthieu Amaré
- 11 hours ago
- 7 min read
On July 23, national climbing federations from around the world will meet for an unprecedented vote: whether to suspend Israel, Russia, and Belarus from World Climbing. Under pressure from a whistleblower and an international advocacy group, the Executive Board agreed to call a special General Assembly. For the first time, here is the story behind a vote that could lead to a historic decision.
Like the rest of Europe, Spain was sweltering in the summer of 2025. But in the heavy heat of her apartment in Tarragona, Jimena Villar-de-Onis finally had a little free time. A trained lawyer, the Swiss climber had always moved between a thousand projects at once. This time, the path was clear: she went down an internet rabbit hole. Jimena was looking for information on the subjects that fascinate her most: international law and sport. And that day, while clicking through sources about the situation at climbing cliffs in the West Bank, she was stunned.
Jimena Villar-de-Onis first learned that Israel’s national climbing federation, ILCA, was promoting—and sometimes even renaming—climbing areas in occupied Palestinian territories. Link by link, she read that Israel’s relentless settlement expansion, pursued at a frantic pace since it began on 7 October 2023, also extended to the climbing cliffs of the West Bank. Two years later, while on a climbing trip in Switzerland, the young Oxford University researcher kept thinking about it between routes. Around that time, she was in frequent contact with Luisa Gieric, a young Spanish student. After the shock came the decision to act together. “We had spent hundreds of hours on this,” Jimena Villar-de-Onis says over the phone, looking back. “I tried to publish an article, but nobody wanted it, so we put everything on a website and an Instagram account.”
Eighteen months later, the information gathered by the two climbers has become part of the foundation for what could become a historic decision in the climbing world. On July 23, 2026, dozens of national climbing federations will vote at a special General Assembly of World Climbing, the sport’s international federation. The meeting will include three separate votes: whether to suspend the Belarusian, Russian, and Israeli federations. The evidence gathered by Jimena Villar-de-Onis helped a broader movement build toward that moment. The Swiss climber has thrown herself into it completely through Climbers for Palestine, the group that has put the most pressure on World Climbing so far.
The Battle of the Motions
March 2022. Russia’s army invades Ukraine. Two weeks later, in Salt Lake City, the IFSC—the former name of the international climbing federation—holds its annual General Assembly. Emotions are running high, and representatives from dozens of federations are facing a question sport rarely wants to answer: what do you do when a member country starts a war? With the invasion dominating the news, a majority of federations vote to suspend Russia and Belarus, and to automatically exclude their athletes from international competition.
“It is a mistake. Sport should not take a position on one conflict, because if you start with one, you have to do it for all of them”
Marco Scolaris, president of World Climbing, on the suspension of the Russian and Belarusian federations following the war in Ukraine.
Marco Scolaris, the president of World Climbing, said it plainly a few months ago on Climbing Radio: “It is a mistake. Sport should not take a position on one conflict, because if you start with one, you have to do it for all of them.” In his view, the Court of Arbitration for Sport proved him right. When the International Ski Federation voted in 2025 to fully exclude Russian athletes, CAS overturned the decision: athletes could not be barred outright, only required to compete as neutrals. But for Jimena Villar-de-Onis, that framing is not quite right. “In principle, Marco Scolaris is right. But on the substance, nobody has ever asked for Israeli, Russian, or Belarusian athletes to be fully excluded,” she explains. “We are arguing for suspension. That is different. And if athletes want to compete, they can do so under a neutral flag.”
That is more or less what the federation would later do. In 2025, World Climbing adopted a “neutrality policy”: Russian and Belarusian athletes would compete without flags, national colors, or anthems. The measure held until February 2026, when World Climbing’s Executive Board suddenly lifted the suspension of the Russian and Belarusian federations. In practice, Russia and Belarus were full members again. Ukraine immediately protested and submitted a motion. That is where things got tangled.
At the same time, Jimena Villar-de-Onis and Climbers for Palestine were moving on a different track. Their argument was not based on Israel’s war. Their case was narrower, and more technical. They argue that ILCA is violating its own statutory obligations as a member of World Climbing. In late 2025, Climbers for Palestine published an evidence report documenting ILCA’s activities: confiscated climbing areas in the West Bank, the reframing of Palestinian cliffs and first ascents, and financial and institutional ties with the Israeli military and companies operating in settlements. The report argues that these activities have helped effectively exclude Palestinian climbers from their own cliffs by obstructing their freedom of movement, as the president of the Palestine Climbing Association explained to us in an interview.
Step by step, Climbers for Palestine organized internationally. The group now has pressure groups in several European countries. In Spain and Italy, its members succeeded in getting their national federations to adopt two motions. Along with Ukraine’s motion, World Climbing suddenly had three texts on its desk. Three texts that forced it to open a debate on Israel’s participation in climbing competitions. The issue was supposed to be addressed at its 2026 General Assembly in Riyadh. Then another war disrupted everything.
Pressure, Secrecy, and the Fine Print
In April 2026, the United States and Israel began bombing Iran. The Middle East had become a war zone. World Climbing canceled its trip to Saudi Arabia and moved the General Assembly online. At the same time, the federation announced that sensitive issues would not be discussed. Jimena Villar-de-Onis was furious. With little time left, the researcher decided to do everything she could to increase pressure on national federations and on World Climbing itself. Thanks to that mobilization, national climbing federations were asked to vote on whether to hold a special World Climbing General Assembly on “geopolitical questions.” On April 23, the proposal passed with 78.69 percent of the vote. It was unquestionably a win for Climbers for Palestine. Many people celebrated. Jimena stayed calm. Because once she dug into the details, she knew it would not be that simple.
“Any decision taken under this agenda item will constitute a recommendation to the Executive Board regarding the suspension of a National Federation”
A statement set forth in black and white in an official World Climbing document.
The July 23 vote will not be binding. To find that out, you have to dig through World Climbing’s official website. Buried there, the document for the upcoming special General Assembly is clear. In the original English, it says: “Any decision taken under this agenda item will constitute a recommendation to the Executive Board regarding the suspension of a National Federation.” In other words, the national federations can vote yes on suspending Belarus, Russia, and Israel, and the Executive Board can still do nothing. Jimena Villar-de-Onis discovered this while combing through the statutes and pushed World Climbing to acknowledge it. The international federation eventually published the document, without announcing it. According to Climbers for Palestine, the group had to threaten to release the information itself in order to force that clarification. So there it is: what looks like a democratic process includes an escape clause. The Executive Board still holds the power.
On July 23, federations will vote anonymously. The order of the vote is already known: alphabetical (by federation names), with Belarus first, Russia second, and Israel last. For Jimena Villar-de-Onis, that is not incidental. It could influence the result, as could the very simple wording of the vote: “Vote to recommend to the Executive Board the suspension of [National Federation Name].” As a trained lawyer, she knows the fine print matters. For Belarus and Russia, the situation has already been decided by the Executive Board, which lifted their suspensions in February. A vote recommending suspension would be a direct rebuke to the Executive Board. But according to Jimena Villar-de-Onis, many Eastern European federations support suspension.
That creates a tension: can a federation vote no on Russia and yes on Israel without contradicting itself? And what about the reverse? Marco Scolaris himself acknowledged in the Climbing Radio podcast that differential treatment “has become a form of violence against the Palestinian people.” For Israel, the logic is different from 2022. World Climbing is not being asked to take a position on a conflict between states. It is being asked to apply its own statutes to a member federation whose documented activities, according to Climbers for Palestine, constitute violations of international law.
“It can pass”
Jimena Villar-de-Onis, a member of Climbers for Palestine.
A Disrupted World Cup in Chamonix
According to our information, around 60 to 70 federations are expected to take part. A suspension recommendation requires a simple majority. But the quality of that majority will matter as much as the raw result. If federations vote overwhelmingly for all three suspensions and the Executive Board follows their lead, it would set a historic precedent. For the first time in an Olympic sport, a federation would be suspended for documented violations of international law. Israeli athletes would then have to compete under a neutral flag during qualification for Los Angeles 2028, less than a year before the cycle begins. If the vote is clear but the Executive Board refuses to act, a legitimacy crisis begins, and Marco Scolaris will have to explain why a majority of member federations has no real power. If the margins are narrow and the results split, the Executive Board will have everything it needs to justify inaction. Summer will pass, and the show will move on.
For Jimena Villar-de-Onis, a historic precedent is still possible. “It can pass,” she says confidently over the phone. In the meantime, Climbers for Palestine has launched a major campaign urging members of national federations to write to their federations and convince them to vote for Israel’s suspension. Tomorrow, just before the Climbing World Cup stop in Chamonix, a demonstration in support of the Palestinian people is planned. The entire Executive Board will be there. It will be hard to look away.
