Israel have not been selected to host the 2020 European Championships, instead offering them to London. Though UEFA and the powers that be would never admit to it, boycott activists have been conducted a prolonged boycott campaign to make sure that UEFA were not going to aid and abet Apartheid. Without any pressure from BDS campaigners in the forms of actions, letters, lobbying, stunts, UEFA would surely have thought Israel was ‘just like any other country’. Well done to the movement.

2 delete

 

Abdulrahman Abunahel, the coordinator in Gaza with the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee said:

“Given that awarding Israel the right to host the games would have been a sign of support for Israel’s massacre in Gaza and its war on Palestinian football, UEFA has made the only sensible decision. We thank all those who joined us in opposing Israel’s bid to host games in Jerusalem, a city from which Israel is ethnically cleansing Palestinians. Our online campaigning and the occupations of football association buildings in France and Italy undoubtedly played a role in persuading UEFA to to make the right choice.”
“Israel has launched a war on football in Palestine: footballers have been killed, stadiums bombed and players have been refused permission to travel to matches. UEFA must suspend the membership the Israeli Football Association if it fails to do more to oppose Israel’s attack on Palestinian sport.”