Badr Salman al-Mulhim, who garnered a gold medal at the 50th International
Chemistry Olympiad in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, chose to stand next to an
Iranian flag-bearer, Arshia Khadem.
The Saudi student was a topic of social media discussions on Sunday after a
widely shared video showed him changing his position when he realized the next
person to him was going to be an Israeli student.
A large number of Arab activists flooded the social media to hail the Saudi
student. A posting on Twitter said, "I admire that nice work, free people are
found anywhere.”
Activists say the move shows that people of Saudi Arabia are against the Israeli
occupation of Palestinian territories and oppose normalization of relations with
Israel.
Saudi Arabia has been the main sponsor of the Arab Peace Initiative, which
envisions the so-called two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The kingdom does not officially recognize Israel, but the two sides have widely
been reported to have cooperated for years behind the scenes.
Source:PRESSTV