Since the founding of the nation of Israel in the 1940s, they have been a constant presence in international sporting competition but developments in the last few months have brought them closer than ever to falling off the edge of the ‘respectable’ sport world.
Physical fitness and competition was a founding principle of the Israeli nation state with the co-founder of the World Zionist Organisation Max Nordau’s 19th-century ideal of ‘Muscular Judaism’ becoming very important. He, and many other early Zionists, believed that ‘New Jews’ needed the physical strength to achieve the goals of Zionism, hence sporting prowess and pride have become cornerstones of the Israeli state.
Modern Israel is a mainstay in international sporting competitions, winning 7 medals including a gold in the Paris Olympics, achieving qualification for the 1970 World Cup as well as being represented strongly in the world of cycling with the privately owned team Israel-Premier Tech.
But as the conflict in Gaza continues to escalate, with more and more civilians dying, they have steadily been shunned by the public and some governments in the West. In sporting terms this has meant that pressure has started to rise on governing bodies in Europe and beyond to stop Israel from using sports to clean their international image.
Israeli Participation in Football
In football, UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) has come under pressure from experts at the UN to suspend Israel from international competition as a ‘necessary response’, calling for an end to the sports washing with the line “sports must reject the perception that it is business as usual”. This comes after a UN commission concluded that Israeli conduct in Gaza consistent with genocide.
This comes alongside a campaign by public figures including Jeremy Corbyn, Bob Vylan and Eric Cantona. The latter spoke at an event for TogetherforPalestine, where he called on FIFA and UEFA to “take the privilege” of football away from Israel by banning them from international competitions. This would include competitions such as the UEFA Europa League that the premier Israeli club, Maccabi Tel Aviv, are scheduled to play in, with an away game in Birmingham against Aston Villa coming up on November 6.
Cycling with Israel
While it is clear that Israel is arguably on its way to becoming a pariah state in the football world, the support of the US, who are co-hosting next year’s World Cup means that they won’t be disqualified from this qualification round. There is undeniably a hesitancy in the West to completely shun Israel as they did Russia because of a long history of geopolitics that has often had them as allies with them long having shared similar goals. This means that the onus falls mostly on individuals to attempt and force change, something that the world of cycling and specifically the Spanish have taken up with great aplomb.
In this year’s edition of Vuelta a España, protestors took to the roads that the cyclists were using armed with Palestine flags and brought the race to a halt on multiple occasions. This was to protest the continued participation of the Israel Premier-Tech team in the race. While not owned directly by Israel, the team is owned by Israeli millionaire Sylvan Adams, who was also instrumental in bringing the opening stages of the 2018 Giro d’Italia to Tel Aviv. Adams wanted to use the event to show Israel as a “diverse, free, pluralistic and fiercely democratic society”. Essentially whitewashing the country through cycling, something that the Spanish rejected emphatically this year.
This disruption and negative attention has made the team’s main bike sponsor, Factor, request that the team change name and remove the flag from their kit as they seek to disassociate from the state. This state of affairs has shown how the actions of individuals can help challenge sportswashing when governing bodies refuse to act.
While it is hard to say that Israel will be cast out of international sport for good, making it as hard as possible for them to continue to sportswash remains exceedingly important to keep sport a fair and just place for all and not a political tool used to cover up international crimes.
