Disappointing news for the Israeli Olympiad Team

Via David Llada's Facebook feed I saw the following message from Emil Sutovsky:

(HEART)BREAKING NEWS:
Israeli Team without Gelfand, Smirin and Sutovsky? Yes, and it is not about the generations' change. And, in the case you wondered, NOT about money (if you read till the end, you'll be surprised to learn, what amount has decided the fate of the Team). It is about an attitude towards the professional chess in our country. It is about the ultimate wish of the ICF leadership to show - who is the boss. They decided not to send a team for Euro-2015, and we had to swallow it. This time they decided that there should be a lower payment for the players in the Olympiad - and we are supposed to accept. Just because it was THEIR decision. They claim that the players are too greedy. How come that we have been always assembling the strongest team all these years? It is really pathetic. We don't have a proper national championship. We haven't had a proper classical round-robin GM event for over a decade! Players are totally neglected and forgotten by the Federation throughout the year, and only before the Olympiad/World/European Teams, they recall we exist.

In spite of all that, we have always reached the compromise. We were close this time as well, but ICF leaders ruined it all, insisting on us to succumb to their demands or quit the Team. I have played in the Israeli National Team for 20 years. I am always proud to play for my country, and I am proud to bring it several medals (including gold for absolutely best result among all the participants in the Olympiad 2010 and EuroTeams 2003). And now people, who hardly contributed to the Israeli chess recognition, set me an ultimatum. Either you accept it or you are out of the Team. At the end of the day it was a total difference of the "whole" 5000 NIS (about 1300 USD) that Israeli Chess Federation insisted on being cut. Simply pathetic. Of course, it was about showing "who is the boss". Succumb or quit. They pressed on the players, on the team captain Alex Kaspi (who resigned his post but stood firm with us), they angered Boris Gelfand to the extent I saw him only once (and I saw him in many different situations!). They knew very well, that Chess Olympiad is a very special event for any player. What they did not know, that the dignity is even more meaningful for some. Please, support and share if you don't want to see it happening again.