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Israel-Premier Tech cycling team confronted by pro-Palestine group at Tour of Britain, with more protests planned this week

Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign activist confronted team on the eve of the race and accused staff of "sportswashing" and "supporting genocide"...

The Israel-Premier Tech cycling team have been confronted by pro-Palestine activists ahead of the Tour of Britain, with further protests expected at each of the stages this week.

In a video posted on Instagram by the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC), an activist is seen approaching staff at one of the team's cars in the Scottish Borders town Peebles yesterday evening, ahead of the British stage race getting underway in Kelso today.

An Israel-Premier Tech spokesperson told road.cc the team remains "excited to race" and "respects everyone's right to free speech so the protests that are expected at the Tour of Britain do not pose a problem".

Pro-Palestine protesters at Tour of Britain Sept 2024 (Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign)

Pro-Palestine campaign groups Show Israel the Red Card, Scottish Friends of Palestine, Scottish Sport for Palestine, and the SPSC called on British Cycling to remove the team from the race, with protests planned at each of the stages, including one in Kelso this morning. The groups have also reportedly emailed British Cycling CEO Jon Dutton calling for the team's exclusion.

Last night, Israel-Premier Tech staff were approached by an activist accusing them of "sportswashing", the practice of using sport to redirect public attention away from unethical conduct, the activist asking if they had "anything to say about your owner supporting a genocide?"

There was no response from the staff who got in the team car and were seen driving off. In March, we reported that Israel-Premier Tech had removed the Israel name from its vehicles as a "precautionary measure", the UCI ProTour team of Chris Froome and Michael Woods insisting that they "continue to race proudly as Israel – Premier Tech".

Pro-Palestine protesters at Tour of Britain Sept 2024 (Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign)

Scottish Borders SPSC Chair Elisa Smith said: "The ICJ has ruled that the situation in Gaza is a 'plausible case for genocide' and that Israel is operating a system of apartheid in Palestine.

"Israel Premier Tech's primary objective is that when you hear 'Israel' you don't think of IOF [Israel Occupation Forces] snipers paralysing athletes, 16,000 dead children in Gaza, or the raping of Palestinian detainees.

"Instead, they want you to focus on Chris Froome making a record-breaking time or Tel Aviv's rooftop bars, as evidenced by Israel's Tourism Board team jerseys and their social media feed. The team and its ownership certainly don't want people to think of Gaza's Paralympic cycling team, Gaza Sunbirds, which is made up of amputees who've lost their limbs as a result of Israeli aggression."

The activist was seen offering the staff a Palestinian flag, asking: "You don't want to put this on your car?"

"Cycling is sportswashing," the SPSC activist added. "What you are doing is sportswashing [...] why have you taken Israel off your team car? Because you guys know, don't you? That you're supporting a genocide."

The SPSC post also states: "Join us tomorrow, 3rd September, in Kelso to protest British Cycling's shameful inclusion of the war criminal state in the Tour of Britain! Say no to sports washing genocide!"

Explaining the protests, Maree Shepherd of Show Israel the Red Card told The National: "There can be no business as usual if you choose to ignore the plight of Palestinians and partner with the perpetrating occupying regime, Israel, as it carries on with the wholesale destruction of every aspect of Palestinian life.

"From football to the Olympics and now cycling, we are sick of our beloved sports being tainted by the inclusion of Israeli teams, many of whom serve in the Israeli army and facilitate the abuse of Palestinians through the decades-long military occupation and war.

"Israel can no longer get away with committing atrocity after atrocity. Neither can anyone who attempts to sportswash it."

Similar protests are planned for the rest of the week as the race travels south through England, Big Ride for Palestine and Sheffield Palestine Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid hosting one in Sheffield ahead of Thursday's third stage.

"British Cycling, Sheffield City Council, and the South Yorkshire Mayor make themselves complicit in the war crimes, genocide and apartheid of Israel clearly identified by the International Court of Justice," Jonny Feldman of both campaign groups said.

In January, Chris Froome appeared in an official Israel state video promoting a cycling event to support Gaza hostages. The video was posted by official Israel accounts and the Israel Foreign Ministry on social media.

Chris Froome RideToBringThemHome promotional video (Twitter/official Israel account)

Three months later activists called for protests against the team after Froome's wife deleted her social media accounts after launching a series of posts, one stating that Muslims are a "drain on modern society".

The agent and wife of Chris Froome said Muslims were "here to take over" and claimed "there are no innocent Gazans" during a string of social media posts, with the UCI ProTeam distancing itself from "comments made by third parties".

In March, the team told us they had removed mention of Israel from team vehicles as a "precautionary measure" following safety advice from "European police authorities".

"We continue to race proudly as Israel – Premier Tech with the team name and Israel branding on the racing kit as it was in previous years. As previously stated, the team adopted a number of precautionary measures ahead of the 2024 season," a spokesperson told us.

"The decision was made to use the IPT monogram, comprised of the Star of David and the Premier Tech 'PT', on the team vehicles and other branded elements. The team monogram has been an integral part of the Israel – Premier Tech brand identity since 2023 when it was first adopted on the back of the team jersey and this vehicle branding has been on display since IPT's first races in Europe in February this year."

Dan is the road.cc news editor and has spent the past four years writing stories and features, as well as (hopefully) keeping you entertained on the live blog. Having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for the Non-League Paper, Dan joined road.cc in 2020. Come the weekend you'll find him labouring up a hill, probably with a mouth full of jelly babies, or making a bonk-induced trip to a south of England petrol station... in search of more jelly babies.

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100 comments

Avatar
Rome73 | 1 month ago
7 likes

Civil society should boycott Israel. Only boycott, divestment and sanctions will end the 70 years of occupation, displacement and terror against the Palestinian population. 

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john_smith replied to Rome73 | 1 month ago
1 like

"Kauft nicht bei Juden."

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chrisonabike replied to john_smith | 1 month ago
6 likes

Sigh ... everyone should probably head over to the definitions of antisemitism at this point (of course - people don't agree on those either) - and for diversion also take in an appreciation of the current main boycott movement (complicated).

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_definition_of_antisemitism

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_Declaration_on_Antisemitism

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boycott,_Divestment_and_Sanctions

Still, props to us all - hopeful or clear-thinking types who think almost 80 years of conflict (latest incarnation) can be fixed in a forum.

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brooksby replied to john_smith | 1 month ago
8 likes
john_smith wrote:

"Kauft nicht bei Juden."

Yeah, but I think that the Nazis were boycotting Jewish businesses for a slightly different reason.

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ErnieC replied to brooksby | 1 month ago
1 like
brooksby wrote:
john_smith wrote:

"Kauft nicht bei Juden."

Yeah, but I think that the Nazis were boycotting Jewish businesses for a slightly different reason.

Nope. Same reason. 

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brooksby replied to ErnieC | 1 month ago
5 likes
ErnieC wrote:
brooksby wrote:
john_smith wrote:

"Kauft nicht bei Juden."

Yeah, but I think that the Nazis were boycotting Jewish businesses for a slightly different reason.

Nope. Same reason. 

It really wasn't.

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chrisonabike replied to brooksby | 1 month ago
1 like

Checking boycott supporters I think it's fairer (but more boring, pleasing nobody) to say it really wasn't for *many* of the modern folks, but some have more ... mixed motivations.

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brooksby replied to chrisonabike | 1 month ago
2 likes
chrisonabike wrote:

Checking boycott supporters I think it's fairer (but more boring, pleasing nobody) to say it really wasn't for *many* of the modern folks, but some have more ... mixed motivations.

I can't disagree.

But explicit antisemitism (pick on the Jews just because they are Jews, even if their Govt's behaviour was truly saintly) was not the original motivation behind BDS, as I understand it.

(EDIT) I'm pulling out of this thread now, because my personal knowledge isn't in-depth enough to get out of any tangled holes that are developing… 

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chrisonabike replied to brooksby | 1 month ago
1 like

Last para, top comment, time to join you.

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Crazyhorse | 1 month ago
12 likes

I'm disappointed to read such ill-informed bigotry and ill-disguised anti-Palestinian bile being hosted on this site. I had been under the misapprehension that cyclists were generally a progressive and well meaning bunch. Perhaps it is just 'performance orientated' riders who are drawn to glib generalisation and tired tropes about a topic that they know little and care less.

That a team proudly sporting the Israeli flag is welcomed at a cycling event whilst Israel is investigated for genocide by the world's highest court beggars belief. But then British Cycling and ethics are evidently not good bedfellows. That so many here are still willing to back Israel's involvement is even more disturbing.

But then in Britain we are talking about a country with a long history of imperialist brutality. As we have seen in recent weeks, racism and white supremacism lurk only just below the surface in Britain today. They will not win. FREE PALESTINE.

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the little onion replied to Crazyhorse | 1 month ago
5 likes

They don't have an Israeli flag on their kit or cars. They are apparently funded by a private individual who I presume has no involvement in deciding what happens in Gaza.

 

I disagree that all citizens of a country are responsible for their governments actions. after all, not all Gazans are responsible for Hamas's actions.

 

 Also, drop the use of white supremacy. Famously, white supremacy and Jews don't mix well.

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Rome73 replied to the little onion | 1 month ago
7 likes

Israel is a supremacist country. It has laws that specifically discriminate against the population according to their ethnicity.  (I.e Nation State Law) A Jewish person born and raised in New York has more rights in Israel that a Christian Palestinian born in Jerusalem and whose ancestry dates back decades in Palestine. 

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the little onion replied to Rome73 | 1 month ago
2 likes

I agree that it is a supremacist country. But it is the white supremacist label that it massively wrong.

 

incidentally, most Israeli Jews are mizrahi not Ashkenazi- so from populations stripped of citizenship by Middle Eastern and North African countries and made into refugees, rather than from European Jewish emigration/refugee populations.

a number of Middle Eastern countries ban Jews from becoming citizens.

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Paul J replied to the little onion | 1 month ago
0 likes
the little onion wrote:

incidentally, most Israeli Jews are mizrahi not Ashkenazi- so from populations stripped of citizenship by Middle Eastern and North African countries and made into refugees, rather than from European Jewish emigration/refugee populations.

a number of Middle Eastern countries ban Jews from becoming citizens.

Note that the Mizrahi migration to Israel occurred _after_ the Nakba. The expulsion of Jews by other muslim states happened as a reaction to the violent displacement and expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs (and the murder of many thousands of them).

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the little onion replied to Paul J | 1 month ago
4 likes
Paul J wrote:
the little onion wrote:

incidentally, most Israeli Jews are mizrahi not Ashkenazi- so from populations stripped of citizenship by Middle Eastern and North African countries and made into refugees, rather than from European Jewish emigration/refugee populations.

a number of Middle Eastern countries ban Jews from becoming citizens.

Note that the Mizrahi migration to Israel occurred _after_ the Nakba. The expulsion of Jews by other muslim states happened as a reaction to the violent displacement and expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs (and the murder of many thousands of them).

 

A) one ethnic cleansing doesn't justify another.

B) that's bollocks, frankly. There were expulsions of Jews from across the middle east for centuries before 1948. Jews had to pay special taxes/protection money just to live in most of the Arab world before 1948.

C) there were strict regulations on movement of Jews to the land currently known as Israel both under British Mandate and the Ottomon Empire, which didn't apply to other groups. So they were only able to escape to what-is-now-Israel in large numbers after it was created.

I simply don't understand why people want to deny suffering of BOTH Jews and Arabs, as if there is a zero sum game, where only one group's suffering counts.

 

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Paul J replied to the little onion | 1 month ago
1 like
the little onion wrote:

 

A) one ethnic cleansing doesn't justify another.

B) that's bollocks, frankly. There were expulsions of Jews from across the middle east for centuries before 1948. Jews had to pay special taxes/protection money just to live in most of the Arab world before 1948.

C) there were strict regulations on movement of Jews to the land currently known as Israel both under British Mandate and the Ottomon Empire, which didn't apply to other groups. So they were only able to escape to what-is-now-Israel in large numbers after it was created.

I simply don't understand why people want to deny suffering of BOTH Jews and Arabs, as if there is a zero sum game, where only one group's suffering counts.

 

Fully agree with you on A.

B is not bollocks. The movement/displacement of Mizrahi jews to Palestine / Israel occurred overwhelmingly from 1948 onward. E.g., see "The Forced Migration of Jews from Arab Countries", Ada Aharoni. And your C contradicts your claim in B, giving a reason why displacement /could not/ occur pre-48, so you are actually well aware of this.

On your last, unlettered point, I fully agree with you. We should not deny the suffering of any group. We should alleviate all /ongoing/ suffering, regardless of the group.

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the little onion replied to Paul J | 1 month ago
1 like

I think we are largely in agreement. My point is that the vast majority of Jewish refugees from Arab/Middle eastern/North African countries arrived IN ISRAEL after 1948. But things were far from rosy for Jews in the middle east prior to 1948,  and there were plenty of movement/expulsions before then. We can't pretend that all Arab anti-semitism is down to the creation of Israel. 

Incidentally, a lot of jewish refugees from Arab countries moved to other places, e.g. France, rather than Israel.

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Paul J replied to the little onion | 1 month ago
2 likes
the little onion wrote:

I disagree that all citizens of a country are responsible for their governments actions. after all, not all Gazans are responsible for Hamas's actions.

It is worth noting here that Israel is currently ramping up its military activities in the West Bank - above the regular oppression over the decades. Destroying roads, water infrastructure, communications, mosques, etc - starting in Jenin. Netanyahu / Mileikowsky recently showed a map of Israel on TV with the entire West Bank (and Golan Heights) included (far from the first time - he did same at the UN a decade or so ago). He and his government ministers openly talk about settling all of the West Bank. Herzog (the president) recently made a speech about how settlement was core to Israel and should be continued (i.e., of the West Bank and Golan).

There is no Hamas (of significant control) in the West Bank. The Palestinian Authority, which has limited control over Area A land, has been completely acquiescent with Israel for nearly 2 decades now. Yet, Illegal state-backed settlement continues, and West Bank Palestinians continue to see their infrastructure regularly attacked/destroyed by the Israeli military; their children abducted illegally by the Israeli military; Israeli settlers steal land, armed with Israeli state weapons and with the direct backing of Israeli military; etc.

You can't blame Hamas for what Israel is doing in the West Bank.

Israel's presence in the West Bank is undeniably illegal under international law - reiterated in numerous UN resolutions and authoritatively recently by the ICJ. Israeli state support of settlement activity, along with the destruction of Palestinian civil infrastructure, constitutes ethnic cleansing - a crime against humanity.

Israel has no right to self-defence in the West Bank, under international law.

Israeli political and military leadership *will* face consequences for this, one day. As may lower level members of the military for specific war crimes they commit.

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Gbjbanjs | 1 month ago
12 likes

From what I can tell, they weren't pro Palestine, just anti genocide. Which seems reasonable given the IPT was set up to improve Israel's international reputation.
However, pro cycling is packed with sponsors like this - Bahrain, UAE (Dubai et al)...both funding their own genocide in Sudan, nevermind the death penalty for gay people or the enslavement of Indian, Bangladeshi and Filipino workers.

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Crazyhorse replied to Gbjbanjs | 1 month ago
8 likes

In no other country though is the right to citizenship based on one's ethnicity. Palestinians displaced in 1948 as a result of the creation of the state of 'Israel' have never been able to return to their homes because of their ethnicity. Israel has constructed an apartheid system unlike any other we have seen incl in S Africa. This is unique. There are many unjust and brutal regimes but none that compares with Israel. Palestinians are the world's biggest and longest standing refugee population - a problem the British created when they abandoned their Mandate to protect Palestine in 1947 and left Palestinians to their fate. We have a responsibility to right those historic wrongs.

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the little onion replied to Crazyhorse | 1 month ago
3 likes
Crazyhorse wrote:

In no other country though is the right to citizenship based on one's ethnicity. 

I mean, I don't mean to sound like a defender of Israel's discriminatory policies. But that fact just isn't true. Certainly not in the middle east, where there are PLENTY of other countries that explicitly or implicitly limit citizenship to ethnic and religious groups.

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darrenleroy replied to the little onion | 1 month ago
1 like
the little onion wrote:
Crazyhorse wrote:

In no other country though is the right to citizenship based on one's ethnicity. 

I mean, I don't mean to sound like a defender of Israel's discriminatory policies. But that fact just isn't true. Certainly not in the middle east, where there are PLENTY of other countries that explicitly or implicitly limit citizenship to ethnic and religious groups.

A concept these protestors conveniently overlook when it comes to ~the Jews~ I mean Israel. Pretty much every Gulf state defines citizenship by very tightly defined constraints based on tribe, and religion. 

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darrenleroy replied to Crazyhorse | 1 month ago
1 like

At the end of the Second World War ethnic Germans were allowed to emigrate 'home' to Germany from countries they had lived for generations. Their right to citizenship was and is based on their ethnicity. It was the biggest mass migration of a people in the history of mankind. Indian Muslims founded an entire nation state, Pakistan, created exclusively for Muslims, at the expense of any other religious group living there. No one seems to care about this though. Only the Jews, eh?
Jews have no other homeland than Israel. In every other country they have been an often despised minority. Arabs in Gaza and the occupied territories can (and do) move a few miles north or east to live among other Arabs who speak the same language and share the same culture. Like moving from Leeds to York. It doesn't make it right, but let's not conflate the issue.

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Rendel Harris replied to darrenleroy | 1 month ago
4 likes
darrenleroy wrote:

Arabs in Gaza and the occupied territories can (and do) move a few miles north or east to live among other Arabs who speak the same language and share the same culture. Like moving from Leeds to York.

So, you and your family may have been farming the same land for centuries. A foreign country invades that land in contravention of international law and starts to build settlements on and around your land, again in contravention of international law and in the face of the condemnation of the United Nations. Often the invaders will burn your crops, kill your livestock and bulldoze your houses, backed by their army who are quick to open fire with live weapons at any sign of protest. No problem, just give up your home, your living and your land and move to another country where you will almost certainly have to live in a refugee camp in appalling conditions with no hope of improvement and no redress for everything you've lost. Stop making a fuss, it's just like moving from Leeds to York.

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the little onion | 1 month ago
2 likes

genuine non-trolling question: how much money comes directly to the team from the Israeli government? I thought it came mostly from tech entrepreneurs, or was that under the "start up nation" title? So to what extent is the team sportswashing, certainly compared to other teams?

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Gbjbanjs replied to the little onion | 1 month ago
5 likes

Ron Barron started and funds IPT. His purpose is specifically to improve the image of Israel abroad.

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the little onion replied to Gbjbanjs | 1 month ago
3 likes

But he isn't actually a representative of the government? It isn't actually the Israeli government's money that funds the team? So it isn't exactly clear how they are responsible for sportswashing the government policies?

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the little onion replied to the little onion | 1 month ago
4 likes

Whilst I abhor the actions of the Israeli government, there is an uncomfortable aspect to this story, in which anything with funding from an Israeli citizen becomes somehow complicit with that policy. It's as wrong as for example, holding INEOS as a team responsible for UK government policies.

 

for actual government funded sportswashing, look elsewhere in the peleton

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ErnieC replied to the little onion | 1 month ago
1 like
the little onion wrote:

Whilst I abhor the actions of the Israeli government, there is an uncomfortable aspect to this story, in which anything with funding from an Israeli citizen becomes somehow complicit with that policy. It's as wrong as for example, holding INEOS as a team responsible for UK government policies.

 

for actual government funded sportswashing, look elsewhere in the peleton

Thank you. More than enough government funded sportswashing going on that conveniently gets ignored. 

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Paul J replied to the little onion | 1 month ago
1 like
the little onion wrote:

Whilst I abhor the actions of the Israeli government, there is an uncomfortable aspect to this story, in which anything with funding from an Israeli citizen becomes somehow complicit with that policy. It's as wrong as for example, holding INEOS as a team responsible for UK government policies.

The Israeli populace overwhelmingly supports the genocide though.

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