Hours after a UN commission this week accused Israel of genocide in Gaza, a giant billboard appeared in New York\u2019s Times Square repeating the allegation to everyone passing through the city\u2019s busiest pedestrian intersection.<\/p>\n
Advocacy groups were seeking to pressure European football federations to boycott Israeli teams after launching a \u201cGameOverIsrael\u201d campaign, a year before New York hosts the World Cup final. <\/p>\n
A day later, dozens of musicians including James Blake, PinkPantheress and Saint Levant performed to a packed London arena at a star-studded \u201cTogether for Palestine\u201d concert with Palestinian activists and Hollywood actors. <\/p>\n
Richard Gere called out US President Donald Trump for not doing more to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the war in Gaza. Retired French football star-turned-actor Eric Cantona drew cheers as he urged clubs and players to boycott Israeli teams.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe remember apartheid in South Africa,\u201d Cantona said. \u201cThe sporting boycott was critical in ending apartheid\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009We are power, you are power and football teams around the world are power.\u201d <\/p>\n
Across sport, the arts and politics, a protest movement against Netanyahu\u2019s far-right government and in support of Palestinians is gaining momentum, born of global outrage over Israel\u2019s nearly two-year war against Hamas in Gaza.<\/p>\n
Campaigners against Israel\u2019s occupation of Palestinian territories hope a watershed moment is approaching, with echoes of the struggle against apartheid in South Africa.<\/p>\n
By targeting football, activists are seeking to replicate the campaigns that led to Russian teams being expelled from international competitions after Moscow\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 \u2014 as well as sports boycotts of South Africa decades earlier.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cultural pillar of boycotts is so important, and nothing is bigger than sports\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009There\u2019s nothing more global than football,\u201d said Ashish Prashar, an organiser of the \u201cGameOverIsrael\u201d campaign and former adviser to Tony Blair when he was Middle East envoy.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile white South Africa wasn\u2019t that interested in football, football was still the biggest sport, and when they were thrown out of football every other sport followed,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you move forward to Russia, what happened was football went; the Olympics went; then every other cultural institution went.\u201d<\/p>\n Even before the GameOverIsrael campaign launched this week, there were signs that outrage over Israel\u2019s war in Gaza \u2014 triggered by Hamas\u2019s October 7, 2023 attack \u2014 was filtering into sport.<\/p>\n Last month, the Italian football coaches\u2019 association called for Israel\u2019s suspension from international competitions, citing \u201cdaily massacres\u201d in Gaza. Norway\u2019s football association promised to donate ticket revenue from its qualifiers against Israel to humanitarian aid for the besieged strip. <\/p>\n Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez this week demanded Israel be banned from all international sports as long as its \u201cbarbarism\u201d in Gaza continues. He spoke after protests directed at the privately owned Israel Premier-Tech team forced the cancellation of the final stage of Spain\u2019s La Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a cycling race.<\/p>\n Days earlier, Israeli players withdrew from a Spanish chess tournament after being told they could not compete under their national flag.<\/p>\n In Hollywood, more than 4,500 actors, filmmakers and others have signed a \u201cpledge to end complicity\u201d inspired by filmmakers\u2019 action against apartheid South Africa. Signatories \u201cpledge not to screen films, appear at or otherwise work with Israeli film institutions\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009that are implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people\u201d.<\/p>\n Last weekend, Hannah Einbinder ended her Emmy awards acceptance speech by shouting \u201cFree Palestine!\u201d Javier Bardem strode the red carpet in a keffiyeh, the Arab headdress symbolising support for Palestinians. <\/p>\n In Europe, Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands and Slovenia have threatened to pull out of the Eurovision Song Contest if Israel takes part.<\/p>\n Such actions \u2014 alongside large street protests in European capitals \u2014 have imbued activist groups like Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) with a newfound sense of relevance. <\/p>\n Omar Barghouti, who has spent two decades campaigning for boycotts to pressure Israel after co-founding BDS, believes a \u201ctipping point\u201d has been reached.<\/p>\n \u201cCalling for a boycott of Israel \u2014 whether it\u2019s Mark Ruffalo in Hollywood, the president of Colombia or the prime minister of Spain \u2014 it\u2019s become normalised,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s our South Africa moment.\u201d<\/p>\n He said one lesson of the anti-apartheid movement was that \u201cstates are the last to change\u201d. Activists like BDS focus on shifting corporations, arts, culture, sports and academia to alter public perceptions, hoping that will in turn shift pressure on to politicians.<\/p>\n Attitudes in western capitals are hardening. The UK this month banned Israelis from the prestigious Royal College of Defence Studies for the next academic year.<\/p>\n In the coming days, the UK, France, Canada and Australia are expected to join other nations in recognising a Palestinian state \u2014 an expression of support for a two-state solution, but also a strong rebuke of Netanyahu\u2019s government. <\/p>\n Yet for all the comparisons with the anti-apartheid movement \u2014 which lasted decades before South Africa transitioned to democracy \u2014 there are distinct differences.<\/p>\n The campaign against white rule in South Africa targeted an institutionalised system and was closely affiliated with the African National Congress, then a banned opposition movement. It was organised, structured and in its later years boasted a global figurehead in Nelson Mandela.<\/p>\n In contrast, the protests against Israel\u2019s war and in support of the Palestinians have no lead organisation and are often ad hoc.<\/p>\n Adam Habib, a South African academic and vice-chancellor of Soas university in London, said the street protests were on a similar scale to the anti-apartheid movement, with the \u201csame level of ferment\u201d.<\/p>\n But Israel \u2014 which vehemently denies the genocide allegations \u2014 is a far more powerful actor than the apartheid regime, with more tools to push back. \u201cThe fightback, at least for the hearts and minds, is more substantive in this context,\u201d Habib said.<\/p>\n And apartheid South Africa did not have the backing of a superpower in the way that Israel enjoys the US\u2019s unflinching support. <\/p>\n Former US president Ronald Reagan and his allies \u201cwere open to the idea of an apartheid South Africa being a bulwark against communism, but they were not prepared to underwrite that country at any cost\u201d, Habib said. \u201cThe relationship between the US and Israel is of a fundamentally different ilk.\u201d<\/p>\n Netanyahu has stuck to his tried-and-tested playbook: berate Israel\u2019s critics as being sucked in by Hamas propaganda and influenced by \u201cMuslim minorities\u201d, while championing himself as the great defender of his nation.<\/p>\n This week he conceded that Israel\u2019s growing isolation would come at a cost. <\/p>\n \u201cI want to make clear that we\u2019re in a different world, a very challenging world,\u201d he told an economic conference. \u201cWe will have to increasingly get used to an economy that has more and more indications of autarky.\u201d<\/p>\n Netanyahu was referring to the growing number of states, including the UK, Canada and Germany, suspending arms sales to Israel. He vowed that Israel would expand its own defence industry. <\/p>\n But his comments rattled the stock market and alarmed Israelis who worry their nation is sliding towards pariah status.<\/p>\n Dahlia Scheindlin, an Israeli analyst and pollster, said the impact of the protests and boycotts was so far \u201cfairly limited for the average Israeli\u201d. Yet they have fed anxiety among Israelis, as well as fears about antisemitism. <\/p>\n \u201cEverybody seems to have a story about a family member in another country who had an unpleasant experience,\u201d said Scheindlin, adding that academics in particular were experiencing \u201ca quiet boycott\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople who are trying to publish books in English are saying they\u2019re being told by agents it\u2019s a hard time to get a book published if you\u2019re Israeli,\u201d Scheindlin said. \u201cDifferent academic forums or professional guilds don\u2019t want to have representatives of Israeli organisations, even if they aren\u2019t affiliated with the government. That\u2019s increasingly common.\u201d <\/p>\n Several European universities, including in Ireland, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands, have suspended collaboration with Israeli institutions. <\/p>\n But some Israeli analysts suggest the international condemnation plays into Netanyahu\u2019s hands, allowing him to tap into the perception that the \u201cworld is against Jews\u201d and has bought into Hamas\u2019s narrative.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not sure if it\u2019s the South African moment, but for people like me who want to feel part of the world, it\u2019s a shitty time,\u201d said Gideon Rahat, a political-science professor at Jerusalem\u2019s Hebrew University.<\/p>\n \u201cBut [for] the people who are more religious or more nationalist, this [is] the great moment of their lives: \u2018We told you the world is against us\u2019.\u201d <\/p>\n Even Israelis who oppose Netanyahu view the criticism as antisemitism, he said, \u201cbecause there is some antisemitism there, and because people are very sensitive to it\u201d.<\/p>\n Netanyahu shows no signs of caving. In response to the UK and France\u2019s moves to recognise a Palestinian state, his far-right allies laid out plans to annex the occupied West Bank. The day the UN commission accused Israel of genocide, Israeli forces launched a new ground offensive into Gaza City.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to be Athens and Super-Sparta,\u201d he told the economic conference. \u201cWe have no choice.\u201d<\/p>\n Additional reporting by Josh Noble in London and Neri Zilber in Tel Aviv<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n #growing #global #boycott #Israel<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hours after a UN commission this week accused Israel of genocide in Gaza, a giant billboard appeared in New York\u2019s Times Square repeating the allegation to everyone passing through the city\u2019s busiest pedestrian intersection. Advocacy groups were seeking to pressure European football federations to boycott Israeli teams after launching a \u201cGameOverIsrael\u201d campaign, a year before […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1861,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[989,363,988,293],"class_list":{"0":"post-1860","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-boycott","10":"tag-growing","11":"tag-israel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Galatasaray](\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/__origami\/service\/image\/v2\/images\/raw\/https%3A%2F%2Fd1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net%2Fproduction%2Fd9c24046-f1d0-4dd7-be05-940b06491e08.jpg?source=next-article&fit=scale-down&quality=highest&width=700&dpr=1\")
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