They call to denounce the genocide in the Maccabi-Baskonia party

January 29 Editorial InPrensa Comments off on Maccabi-Baskonia call for genocide

On Thursday, February 1, Maccabi in Tel Aviv will play in Vitoria-Gasteiz. This sports team has been a prominent agent in the publicity and laundering campaigns of the Israeli occupation army. In solidarity with Palestine, the BDS calls not to normalise Maccabi’s presence and to protest.

"Since 7 October, Israel has had the lives of over 26,500 Palestinians on its death list. They return to our city by providing a supposed calculated image of normality, but at the same time by establishing exceptional security protocols, both against Vasconia’s supporters and against anyone who wishes to show solidarity with the Palestinian people in or around the pavilion.’ The members of the BDS campaign have explained this today at a press conference on the occasion of the basketball match that the Maccabi of Tel Aviv will be fighting against Baskonia on Thursday 1 February.

They take advantage of the hearing to denounce that the reception of the institutions to Maccabi is "a campaign for the laundering of genocide and ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian people" and say that they will not accept it normally. In fact, they have explained that the only objective of this sporting event is to whitewash Israel's public image, "when it has committed genocide crimes against the Palestinian civilian population".

To this end, they have called on the institutions and supporters to take action. They have proposed to the fans of Baskonia and the citizens of Vitoria in general:

• Let them not enter the pavilion until the 5th minute after the start of the party to show their mourning and respect for the 26,500 people killed by Israel on the Gaza list (some 13,000 of them children).
• That every time Maccabi players have courage, they manifest their rejection by screaming "GENOCIDE."
• Let them show the Palestinian and South African flags (because South Africa is the one that has led the complaint of genocide in the International Court of Justice against Israel), which are absolutely legal in the legal framework we are dealing with, and which in no case can be withdrawn. And we also ask that if any national or foreign security agent tries to remove those symbols, they be required to identify them.

Al Club Baskonia and institutions (Department of Security of the Basque Government, Provincial Council of Álava and City Hall of Vitoria-Gasteiz):

• Do not impose security protocols that go beyond the legal and competency framework that corresponds to them, and thus allow legal symbols to be introduced inside the pavilion, such as the Palestinian flag, and respect the right to freedom of expression for everyone who wishes to show solidarity with Palestine.
• Do not condemn legitimate and legal conduct and symbols and ensure freedom of expression, even in the context of the presence of the Maccabi in Tel Aviv.

To the political parties represented in the City Hall of Vitoria-Gasteiz:

• That they do not normally accept an absolutely abnormal situation, that is, that a sporting event be used to justify crimes against humanity and that illegal security protocols be established from the point of view of the legal framework in question.
• They should publicly state their position on this act of propaganda and, in this regard, make some symbolic display of adherence to international humanitarian law.