“There are things that go further than a simple match.” Following the announcement of the Basketball return match between Paris Basketball and Maccabi Tel Aviv on January 16 at the Arena-Porte de la Chapelle in Paris, we, activists of the BDS France campaign, We urge the organizers to abandon this meeting.
Faced with a situation in Gaza, the toll of which is increasing day by day, of which the new images reaching us prove, if proof were necessary, that the accusations of genocide made against Israel are largely well-founded, how can we accept that a match is held on our territory, as if nothing had happened, which brings French basketball players face to face with basketball players who represent a country which practices genocide?
Holding such a match looks like a normalization of war crimes committed by Israel in Gaza by showing that we can play basketball with a team from a country whose genocidal army is in the process of to make the territory of the 2.5 million Palestinians living locked in Gaza completely uninhabitable, to massacre children, doctors, journalists, an entire people, an entire society, its culture, its past and its future.
We have noted with satisfaction the publication of an official press release, declaring that the group of Paris Basketball supporters would not host the Parisian club's match against Maccabi Tel Aviv.
According to this group, this is a decision taken in the context of the conflict in the Middle East involving Israel: “We decided with the Office not to make this match a usual match and above all not to act as if nothing had happened”. The association adds: ” … There is things that go further than a simple basketball match… Our values and values of humanism in general. »
For our part:
- We ask the City of Paris, owner, as well as the administrators of this place, to refuse to hold this match.
- We ask the managers of the Paris Basketball club to renounce this participation
- We ask Paris Basketball players to give up playing this match.
Such a position would honor the basketball players of this club but also all of French sport, by showing the voice to the leaders of our country and the international community, the voice of the refusal of complicity, the voice of justice and freedom .
The BDS France campaign
Stay connected to take part in an action on social networks soon.
Source: Bdsfrance.org
