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We launch #AtletiJuegoLimpio (#AtletiFairPlay), a mailing campaign to express our concern about the sponsorship deal between the Club Atlético de Madrid and the Israeli company Plus500. A company that represents and promotes, according to its own founders, the economic interests of the state of Israel, a state which has militarily occupied Palestinian territory for over 70 years and which constantly violates the human rights of the Palestian people.
https://oiga.me/en/campaigns/atleti-juego-limpio-di-no-al-patrocinio-de-la-empresa-israeli-plus500
Message to Club Atlético de Madrid
I’m writing to you to express my concern about the news that Atlético Madrid FC has signed a sponsorship deal with the Israeli firm Plus500. Plus500 is a company which, in the words of its own founders, represents and promotes the economic interests of the state of Israel, a state which has militarily occupied Palestinian territory for over 70 years and which constantly violates the human rights of the Palestian people.
An illustration of this behaviour are the attacks on the Gaza Strip which, on the most recent occasion, resulted in the massacre of 2300 people in July and August 2014. This, along with the demolition of houses, widescale persecution, the holding of political prisoners, the exploitation of Palestinian natural resources, the siege of Gaza, the denial of the right of return of refugees and a long list of other violations of human rights make up the reality of Palestinian life under the Israeli apartheid regime.
The world of sport is not exempt from this situation. Palestinian sportswomen and men are denied freedom of movement in a routine and systematic manner. Israel prohibited a player on the Palestinian national team Sameh Marbah from travelling to participate in the Asian Cup currently being played in Australia, a decision which the Palestinian Football Federation described as “against all international conventions and laws, especially the rules of the International Olympic Committee and FIFA which guarantee freedom of movement for players”.
Palestinian football and sporting installations have also been the target of Israeli military attacks, including the headquarters of the national paralympic committee and the Gaza national stadium destroyed in 2012. According to FIFA,”70% of sporting infrastructure in the Gaza Strip was destroyed” during the attack in the usmmer of 2014. The latest episode, which sets a dangerous precedent, was the raid by armed Israeli soldiers on the headquarters of the Palestinian Football Federation in Ramallah. Nor have school playgrounds, play parks and other youth leisure venues escaped from this violence as shown by the bombardment which killed four Palestinian kids belonging to the Bakr family who were playing football on the beach in Gaza just outside the hotel where much of the international press corps were staying.
Both professional and amateur sportspeople who have been attacked by the Israeli army have suffered death and injuries which have prevented them playing sport. On January 31, 2014, Jawhar and Adam, two young Palestinians of 19 and 17 were returning home after a training session at the Faisal al Husseini stadium when they were shot at by Israeli forces as they were approaching a check-point. Both were struck by bullets in their feet which have prevented them from playing football since. In May 2014, Nadeem Nowarrah, a 17 year-old basketball player received five shots straight into his heart when he was taking part in a demonstration in Ramallah.
Palestinian sportspeople and footballers have also suffered illegal arrest. One of the best-known cases is that of Mahmoud Sarsak, a member of the Palestinian national team who was held for three years without charges and without a trial after being arrested when he was leaving Gaza to join his new team, Balata Youth, on the West Bank. After a hunger strike lasting 101 days, which almost cost him his life, and a large-scale international protest with the support of important names like Eric Cantona, Frédéric Kanouté, Abou Diaby and Lilian Thuram, the Israeli authorities were forced to free him.
In the face of outrages of this nature, figures in both professional and amateur sport have made their voices heard. The statement made by UEFA president Michel Platini in December 2010 illustrates this concern when he said “Israel has to choose between allowing Palestinian sport to develop and flourish or else face the consequences of its current behaviour.”
In June 2011, 42 Palestinian clubs demanded that Platini reverse the decision to hold the Under21 mens football championship in Israel. This call was supported by football fans, professionals and supporters of human rights via actions such a petition on the internet which gathered 13,000 signatures, a signed statement by 50 European football stars and a letter by the French ex-minister for sport Marie-George Buffet.
In September 2014 UEFA rejected the Israeli bid to host matches in the 2020 football European Nations Cup after an international campaign by a combination of football teams and Palestinian NGOs along with European activists which argued that accepting the Israeli bid would be like “rewarding” Israel for the massacre in which 2300 Palestinians including more than 500 women and children were killed during the recent 52-day attack on Gaza.
These campaigns are part of the global, non-violent and anti-racist BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement which Palestinian civil society launched in 2005 inspired by the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa to whose victory the sporting boycott made an essential contribution.
This sponsorship deal takes place at a time when Atlético Madrid FC has sadly been in the headlines for events which have nothing to do with the spirit and values of fair play. Sportsmanship and anti-racism are the foundations on which the game of football, so close to the heart of both fans and professionals, is based. Neither Israel’s occupation nor its apartheid policy have any place within these values.
Our view is that putting a company identified with the interests of the state of Israel on the players’ shirts is a means of sanitising the image of a regime whose behaviour is contrary to the values of fair play and sport. We therefore request that Atlético Madrid position itself clearly on the side of fair play and cancel the deal with the Plus500 company.
Send a message to Atlético de Madrid FC
To send the message, click «Join» button and fill the form on the left. If you are using a tablet or smartphone, choose the option to trust the source to acceess the web: https://oiga.me/en/campaigns/atleti-juego-limpio-di-no-al-patrocinio-de-la-empresa-israeli-plus500.