"We Applaud Argentina’s Decision to Cancel Israel Football Match"

June 14, 2018 — We, the undersigned human rights organizations from Palestine, 

Barcelona and Buenos Aires, applaud the Argentinian national male football team’s decision to cancel their match with Israel. We salute the many Latin American, European, US, Palestinian and Israeli human rights defenders who appealed to the team to cancel their game with Israel’s apartheid, and we firmly stand with them against Israel’s propaganda lies and smears .

Argentina’s national male football team cancelled their match with Israel last week, following appeals from Palestinian athletes and human rights campaigners and peaceful protests by activists around the world. In the words of Argentina’s striker Gonzalo “Pipa” Higuaín, "Not going was the right thing to do."  

Israel’s far-right government had planned to use the match to sports-wash the 70th anniversary of the Nakba, or catastrophe, the ethnic cleansing of over 500 Palestinian towns and villages. The Argentinian team’s brave decision set a historic precedent for athletes of conscience to follow. Their cancellation sent a clear message: there is nothing friendly about playing Israeli apartheid.

In response to the cancellation, Israel and its lobby groups jumped to the far too familiar tactics of spreading false information and defamatory accusations. The goal, it seems, is to intimidate the Argentinian team into reversing their  decision, and to smear peaceful human rights activists who appealed to the Argentinian team to cancel their Israel match. 

A Palestinian civil society call launched the campaign to urge Argentina to cancel its match with Israel. Palestinian footballer Mohammad Khalil, whose career was ended by an Israeli army sniper who shot him in both legs as he peacefully protested in Gaza, also urged Argentina and Messi to cancel the match. Human rights activists in Argentina organized peaceful actions and letters, for months, to appeal to Argentina to cancel. Thousands of human rights advocates from around the world signed a petition to Messi and Argentina, noting the Israeli government’s use of the match to cover-up its brutal attacks on unarmed Palestinians. The Palestinian Football Federation also called on Argentina to cancel the match.

Through creative events, Argentinian activists emphasized that they did not want their flag or football T-shirt to be used to cover up Israel’s  war crimes against Palestinians. They delivered a letter to the Argentinian Football Association (AFA) through Nora Cortiñas, founder of Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, and held a protest outside of the AFA building. The campaign hashtags, #MessiNoVayas, #NothingFriendly and #ArgentinaNoVayas, widely circulated over social media.

In Barcelona, activists from “Prou Complicitat amb Israel” (Stop complicity with Israel), a coalition  of over 20 human rights organisations including BDS Catalunya, the Palestinian Community in Catalunya and JUNTS, an organization of Palestinians and anti-Zionist Jews, organized actions outside the stadium where the team trained. Activists appealed to Argentinian players through a megaphone to cancel their match with Israel, which would be used by the Israeli government to cover-up its flagrant violations of Palestinian rights. The activists appealed to Argentinian players to boycott Israel the way South Africa was boycotted during apartheid. The action received wide media coverage and Argentinian goalkeeper Willy Caballero said, “It was a small group that made us think.

Palestinians and human rights organizations from around the world have thanked Argentina and captain Lionel Messi for their brave decision. The football team in Nabi Saleh, a Palestinian town in the occupied West Bank, thanked Argentina and Messi through a video message. Nabi Saleh is home to Ahed Tamimi, the 17-year old Palestinian girl who is imprisoned by Israel prison for confronting a heavily-armed Israeli soldier standing in her front yard. “You scored a goal for freedom, justice and equality,” Ahed’s relatives said to Argentina in the video.

In Barcelona, activists held a “thank you” event outside the hotel where the Argentinian team stayed. Members of the Palestinian community in Barcelona gave the team an Argentinian jersey which said, “Thank you for standing on the right side of history” and a thank you letter to captain Lionel Messi and the team for their decision.

We condemn Israel’s propaganda lies and smears which have unsuccessfully tried to intimidate the peaceful activists who creatively protested Argentina’s decision to play Israeli apartheid. They’ve followed the footsteps of anti-apartheid activists who appealed to the moral sense of artists and athletes to boycott apartheid South Africa.

Thank you Argentina. We hope athletes around the world follow in your footsteps and refuse to play Israeli apartheid!

The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC)

Coalició Prou Complicitat amb Israel

BDS Argentina

Comité Argentino en solidaridad con el Pueblo Palestino

BDS

14 June 2018