The Boycott Divest Sanctions (BDS) movement has once again attempted to undermine South African sports by creating controversy where there is none in a scheduled pre-season match in Spain this week between Orlando Pirates and Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Instead of allowing SA sports teams to abide by international rules and participate freely in international matches, BDS is trying to harm a sports team like Pirates, by pressuring them to cancel this positive sporting engagement.
This own goal would be a grave injustice to SA sports, as well as the positive role that sport plays in bringing people of diverse backgrounds together, and we call on Pirates to stand firm.
Key stakeholders of the BDS movement are fearful that South Africans will see the diversity of the Israeli soccer team, which is made up of Arabs and Jews. As Israel is the world’s only Jewish State, the BDS wishes to discriminate solely against her amongst the community of nations, whilst remaining silent when serious human rights abuses occur daily.
If SA were scheduled to play Russia or Iran, or any major human rights abuser, the BDS would be cheering our beloved players on, as opposed to bullying them.
Soccer can play a unifying and meaningful role in bridging the disconnect created by the inflammatory tactics of the BDS, which only seeks to sow hate and division. This dishonest attempt to dehumanise Israelis and bully South Africans must be rejected and condemned.
Bafana Modise, head of communications, The South African Friends of Israel
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