PRO-PALESTINE campaigners are calling for an Israel based cycling team to be banned from the Tour of Britain which is set to start in Scotland next week.
The Borders branch of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC) and Scottish Sport for Palestine are urging organisers British Cycling to kick out Israel Premier-Tech (IPT) from the major event which sets off from Kelso on Tuesday, September 3.
The route will see cyclists tackling a variety of terrain from the Scottish Borders to Felixstowe in Suffolk over six days.
A pro-Palestine demonstration has been planned at each of the race locations across the UK, including in Kelso from 9am.
IPT was founded in 2014, with former four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome its most famous member.
The campaign groups want British Cycling to ban the team from any subsequent events too, as they have suggested IPT is using cycling “to sanitise and launder” Israel’s “well-documented crimes including apartheid and genocide”.
An email petition to British Cycling’s CEO Jon Dutton has reportedly been sent by hundreds of concerned locals in the Borders.
Israel Premier Tech owner and Israeli-Canadian philanthropist Sylvan Adams – who grew up in Montreal in a Zionist home - previously told the Jerusalem Post regarding the team’s participation in the Tour de France: “The best way to answer the haters is through our performance and presence.”
Campaigners are concerned Adams sees sport as a means of enhancing the country’s standing amid its trial at the International Court of Justice for the crime of genocide - a common diversion tactic known in the human rights community as sports-washing.
Scottish Borders SPSC Chair Elisa Smith said: “The ICJ has ruled that the situation in Gaza is a ‘plausible case for genocide’ and that Israel is operating a system of apartheid in Palestine.
“Israel Premier Tech's primary objective is that when you hear ‘Israel’ you don't think of IOF [Israel Occupation Forces] snipers paralysing athletes, 16,000 dead children in Gaza, or the raping of Palestinian detainees.
“Instead, they want you to focus on Chris Froome (above) making a record-breaking time or Tel Aviv's rooftop bars, as evidenced by Israel's Tourism Board team jerseys and their social media feed.
“The team and its ownership certainly don't want people to think of Gaza's Paralympic cycling team, Gaza Sunbirds, which is made up of amputees who've lost their limbs as a result of Israeli aggression.”
Campaigners say the ICJ's recent ruling on the Israeli occupation makes clear that boycotts, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against Israeli occupation, colonisation, and apartheid are a moral imperative but also a legal obligation.
Earlier this year the IPT team removed any explicit mention of Israel from team vehicles as a “precautionary measure” but the team said it continues to “race proudly” as IPT with Israel branding on the racing kit.
In January, Froome appeared in a video posted on social media by Israel’s Foreign Ministry and the official state of Israel to promote a cycling event to support Gaza hostages. His involvement drew criticism, with some accusing him of sportswashing.
