The US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel salutes the campaigners for justice in Argentina, Palestine and around the world who achieved this important step. We thank the players of the Argentine national team who pushed to achieve this conclusion.
International sports competition must not be allowed to be used as a means of normalizing the Israeli occupation and covering up the reality of 70 years of war crimes, dispossession and colonialism. In the international boycott of South African apartheid, sports boycott was one of the most powerful international mechanisms of popular censure and sanctions of an illegitimate apartheid regime. This cancellation should be the first step toward the expulsion of Israel from FIFA and other international sports bodies. The Israeli state should not be able to field teams in international competition while Palestinian footballers are shot in the legs as they protest in Gaza in the Great March of Return.
We reprint below the statement of BDS Argentina:
Victory! Argentina will not go, and the jersey will not be stained
Argentina Committee of Solidarity with the Palestinian People
Eternal gratitude to the technical staff of the national team and to the players for the conscious decision not to lend themselves to playing Apartheid.
A very special thanks to all the signatories and people who shared the calls. Thanks to the alternative media who publicized the campaign from the first moment and to the journalists who approached the issue with responsibility and seriousness rather than getting on the propaganda train of Zionism. None of this would have been possible without the support of each participant.
This victory was the result of the joint work of people, institutions and civil society associations from throughout Argentina, Palestine, Latin America, Europe, Israel and the rest of Asia. That is why it is not only a victory for the Argentine people but for the entire continent, for the Palestinian people and for humanity.
Thank you for joining BDS, the nonviolent campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israeli apartheid in support of justice, freedom and equal rights. We reiterate our commitment to respect for human rights and international humanitarian law:
* That UN Resolution 194 is complied with, so that Palestinian refugees can return from their lands with force of arms by Zionist conquerors.
* That Israeli Occupation Forces withdraw completely from the territories occupied since ’67 (Gaza, East Jerusalem and the West Bank of Palestine, the Shebaa Farms of Lebanon and the Golan Heights of Syria), as stipulated in UN Resolution 242 of November 23, 1967. And that equal rights are implemented for Israeli citizens of Palestinian origin, who make up 20 percent of the Israeli population yet are oppressed by Zionist apartheid laws.
Today, we have won an important and just battle. The struggle will continue with other campaigns until the Israeli apartheid regime abandons its criminal and racist policies, complying once and for all with the requirements of international humanitarian law. We are eternally grateful to the players, the coaching staff, the Argentina fans and all of the friends from Palestine, Argentina and the world.
The jersey will not be stained.
You can follow news of our campaigns at BDSArgentina.com, or on Faceboo k at BDS Argentina.