BRUSSELS, Thursday, July 28, 2022 (WAFA) – Pro-Palestine associations recently held sit-ins in protest of Israel’s participated in an annual bicycle race in the French-speaking part of Belgium.
In cooperation with the Palestinian community in Belgium and Luxembourg, the associations and activists held the sit-ins in protest of the participation of Israel Premier Tech team, formerly known as Israel Start-Up Nation, in The Tour de Wallonie.
Raising Palestine flags, the participants called for intensifying the boycott of Israel as a means to support the Palestinian people’s in their struggle for an independent, free and democratic state in line with the United Nations resolutions and the international law.
They maintained Israel is exploiting sports as a means to whitewash its settler-colonialism and occupation and perpetuates a system of apartheid against Palestinians while calling for Israeli leaders to be prosecuted at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network (Samidoun) issued a statement calling for preventing the Israel Premier Tech team from taking part in the 109th edition of the Tour de France, held from July 1 to 24 starting with Copenhagen, Denmark, and then proceeding through several cities in Belgium and France.
“Founded by Israeli-Canadian businessman Sylvan Adams, this team aims to promote Israeli apartheid. Indeed, “the members of the team are ambassadors of the country of Israel, which is the basis of the team. We use sport to create links and promote the image of the country,” as the team openly underlines in a quote to a French newspaper,”” Samidoun said.
“The presence of this team with openly political ambitions is all the more scandalous when we see that the International Cycling Union is currently sanctioning several Russian and Belarusian teams because of the policies of their respective States, but becomes incapable of doing so when it comes to denouncing Israeli policy. This demonstrates once again that what is in question is not the legitimacy of the sports boycott but the targets it is addressing,” it added.
The international network called for the intensification of the boycott of Israel as well as of the team.
“As Israel continues its policy of colonialism, apartheid and ethnic cleansing, we call for the intensification of the boycott of Israel as an anti-colonialist and anti-racist tool in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance which fights for the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea.”
“In this context, we call for a boycott of the team Israel Premier Tech and for increased actions and organizing during this competition. The flag of Palestine must fly everywhere in order to make it clear that we do not accept the presence of a team representing the executioners of the Palestinian people.”
K.F.
