A major cycling race in Spain was disrupted by protests against an Israeli team, while a basketball game in Poland saw fans booing the Israeli national anthem. These incidents, coupled with threats from several European countries to boycott a signature entertainment event if Israel participates, signal a growing global backlash. The humanitarian toll of the war in Gaza is increasingly spilling into the international arenas of sports and culture.
Critics argue that Israel should face similar international isolation to Russia, which was largely sidelined from global events following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. This comparison draws on the widespread condemnation and Western sanctions that Russia encountered.
However, unlike Russia, Israel has not been subjected to widespread exclusion by major global sports institutions such as the International Olympic Committee or the world football body FIFA. Beyond the minor international Muay Thai federation, there has been little willingness within international sports to prevent Israeli athletes from competing under their national flag.
But Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez raised the temperature earlier this week by siding with pro-Palestinian protesters who disrupted the Spanish Vuelta cycling race, saying it’s time to boycott Israel from international sports events until the “barbarity” in Gaza ends. A day later, Spain’s public broadcaster joined three other European countries threatening to withdraw from and not carry next year’s Eurovision Song Contest – a hugely popular event in Israel and across Europe – if Israel is allowed to compete.
Earlier this month, some Hollywood filmmakers, actors and other industry figures signed a pledge to boycott Israeli film institutions — including festivals, broadcasters and production companies.
Why, Sánchez asked, shouldn’t Israel be expelled from sports just like Russia?
“This is different,” the IOC’s executive director for Olympic Games, Christophe Dubi, said this week in Milan when asked to compare the two.
Both the IOC and FIFA have said the legal reasons for acting against Russia have not been reached in Israel’s case but haven’t given detailed explanations. The IOC has said Israel hasn’t breached the Olympic charter like Russia, when it annexed territories in eastern Ukraine. Also, European soccer federations and clubs are not refusing to play Israeli opponents.
FIFA declined a request for comment on its Israel policy and the delayed work of two panels reviewing formal complaints by the Palestinian soccer federation, which has long tried to bar Israel from competition over its treatment of Palestinians.
Israel reacted strongly to Sánchez’ call for a sports boycott. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called the Spanish leader an “antisemite and a liar.” Israel has dug in its heels in the face of international isolation and criticism of its military campaign, which came in response to the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas-led militants.
The most notable exclusion from international sports was imposed on Apartheid-era South Africa. It did not compete at any Olympics after 1960 until the 1992 Barcelona Summer Games, two years after Nelson Mandela was released from prison.
Russia was swiftly blacklisted by most sports federations after the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Its athletes competed under a neutral flag at the Paris Olympics.
Currently there is no momentum for Israel to face the same fate. Still, some analysts said the move by Spain is significant, not least because it is a major soccer power set to co-host the 2030 World Cup. It also will host an NFL game next month and the opening stage of next year’s Tour de France bike rice.
“Until now we haven’t seen this type of outrage against Israeli action in Gaza,” said Antoine Duval of the Asser Institute, a Netherlands-based think tank. “I think this tide is turning now.”
