Restore Yotam Budnik’s Gold Medal and End the Discrimination Against Israeli Students
The Issue
To the International Olympiad in Informatics and the corporate partners and supporters of IOI 2026: Restore Yotam Budnik’s official gold-medal result and end the exclusion of Israeli students from competing under their national identity.
At the 2026 International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) in Uzbekistan, 17-year-old Israeli student Yotam Budnik achieved a gold-medal-level performance in one of the world’s most prestigious academic competitions. The IOI then disqualified him because he displayed his Israeli flag at the medal ceremony.
Since 2024, following the October 7 Hamas massacre against Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza, Israeli students have been required to compete under the IOI flag rather than the Israeli flag.
At the 2026 medal ceremony, Yotam did something simple:
He displayed the flag of his country. 🇮🇱
For that act, he was disqualified, his score was zeroed, and he was removed from the official rankings.
His code did not change.
His performance did not change.
His achievement did not change.
The only thing that changed was that he displayed an Israeli flag.
IOI’s Corporate Supporters Should Speak Out
IOI 2026 received support from major global technology, telecommunications and financial companies, including:
OpenAI • NVIDIA • Huawei • Cognition • Hudson River Trading (HRT) • Squarepoint • Uzum Ecosystem • Ucell • CodeMao • Wincent
We ask each of these companies a simple question:
Do you believe a 17-year-old student should have his academic achievement erased because he peacefully displayed the Israeli flag?
If the answer is no, please say so publicly and use your influence to help correct this injustice.
We are not asking these companies to take a position on Israel, Gaza, Iran or any other geopolitical conflict.
We are asking them to stand behind principles that should be universal in international academic competition:
Fairness. Equal treatment. Inclusion. Academic excellence.
The War Is Over. Why Is Israel Still Being Singled Out?
Whatever justification the IOI believed existed for its policy during the Gaza war, that war has ended.
Yet the punishment of Israeli teenagers continues.
Even more troubling is the apparent double standard.
Numerous countries whose governments have been accused of grave human-rights abuses continue to participate under their national identities.
Consider Iran. 🇮🇷
During the January 2026 anti-government protests, Iranian security forces killed tens of thousands of Iranians.
Yet Iran was permitted to field a team at IOI 2026 under its national identity.
Iranian teenagers should not be punished for the actions of their government.
Neither should Israeli teenagers.
Other participating countries have governments facing serious allegations of human-rights abuses, political repression, arbitrary detention, executions, censorship and violations of international law.
Yet their young competitors are not stripped of their national identities.
Why, then, is Israel treated differently?
There are only two defensible standards:
Either the IOI judges countries according to their governments’ conduct and applies that standard consistently to every nation, or it recognizes that teenage students should not be punished for geopolitical conflicts and the actions of governments.
We believe the second principle is the right one.
What We Are Asking For
We call upon the International Olympiad in Informatics to:
Immediately restore Yotam Budnik’s score and official ranking.
Restore his certificate and official gold-medal status.
End the exclusion of Israel as a national delegation.
Allow Israeli students to compete under the Israeli flag and national identity.
Adopt a consistent policy that does not punish young competitors because of their nationality or the actions of their governments.
We call upon OpenAI, NVIDIA, Huawei, Cognition, Hudson River Trading, Squarepoint, Uzum Ecosystem, Ucell, CodeMao and Wincent to publicly support these principles and urge the IOI to reverse its decision.
International academic competitions should bring brilliant young people together.
They should not make teenagers responsible for international politics.
They should not erase academic achievements because of a national flag.
And they should never apply one standard to Israeli teenagers and another to everyone else.
Yotam Budnik earned his gold medal.
Restore it. 🇮🇱🥇
Let Israel compete.
One competition. One standard.
23
The Issue
To the International Olympiad in Informatics and the corporate partners and supporters of IOI 2026: Restore Yotam Budnik’s official gold-medal result and end the exclusion of Israeli students from competing under their national identity.
At the 2026 International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) in Uzbekistan, 17-year-old Israeli student Yotam Budnik achieved a gold-medal-level performance in one of the world’s most prestigious academic competitions. The IOI then disqualified him because he displayed his Israeli flag at the medal ceremony.
Since 2024, following the October 7 Hamas massacre against Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza, Israeli students have been required to compete under the IOI flag rather than the Israeli flag.
At the 2026 medal ceremony, Yotam did something simple:
He displayed the flag of his country. 🇮🇱
For that act, he was disqualified, his score was zeroed, and he was removed from the official rankings.
His code did not change.
His performance did not change.
His achievement did not change.
The only thing that changed was that he displayed an Israeli flag.
IOI’s Corporate Supporters Should Speak Out
IOI 2026 received support from major global technology, telecommunications and financial companies, including:
OpenAI • NVIDIA • Huawei • Cognition • Hudson River Trading (HRT) • Squarepoint • Uzum Ecosystem • Ucell • CodeMao • Wincent
We ask each of these companies a simple question:
Do you believe a 17-year-old student should have his academic achievement erased because he peacefully displayed the Israeli flag?
If the answer is no, please say so publicly and use your influence to help correct this injustice.
We are not asking these companies to take a position on Israel, Gaza, Iran or any other geopolitical conflict.
We are asking them to stand behind principles that should be universal in international academic competition:
Fairness. Equal treatment. Inclusion. Academic excellence.
The War Is Over. Why Is Israel Still Being Singled Out?
Whatever justification the IOI believed existed for its policy during the Gaza war, that war has ended.
Yet the punishment of Israeli teenagers continues.
Even more troubling is the apparent double standard.
Numerous countries whose governments have been accused of grave human-rights abuses continue to participate under their national identities.
Consider Iran. 🇮🇷
During the January 2026 anti-government protests, Iranian security forces killed tens of thousands of Iranians.
Yet Iran was permitted to field a team at IOI 2026 under its national identity.
Iranian teenagers should not be punished for the actions of their government.
Neither should Israeli teenagers.
Other participating countries have governments facing serious allegations of human-rights abuses, political repression, arbitrary detention, executions, censorship and violations of international law.
Yet their young competitors are not stripped of their national identities.
Why, then, is Israel treated differently?
There are only two defensible standards:
Either the IOI judges countries according to their governments’ conduct and applies that standard consistently to every nation, or it recognizes that teenage students should not be punished for geopolitical conflicts and the actions of governments.
We believe the second principle is the right one.
What We Are Asking For
We call upon the International Olympiad in Informatics to:
Immediately restore Yotam Budnik’s score and official ranking.
Restore his certificate and official gold-medal status.
End the exclusion of Israel as a national delegation.
Allow Israeli students to compete under the Israeli flag and national identity.
Adopt a consistent policy that does not punish young competitors because of their nationality or the actions of their governments.
We call upon OpenAI, NVIDIA, Huawei, Cognition, Hudson River Trading, Squarepoint, Uzum Ecosystem, Ucell, CodeMao and Wincent to publicly support these principles and urge the IOI to reverse its decision.
International academic competitions should bring brilliant young people together.
They should not make teenagers responsible for international politics.
They should not erase academic achievements because of a national flag.
And they should never apply one standard to Israeli teenagers and another to everyone else.
Yotam Budnik earned his gold medal.
Restore it. 🇮🇱🥇
Let Israel compete.
One competition. One standard.
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Petition created on August 21, 2026