Sports boycott of apartheid Israel is an ethical duty: No more Invites to apartheid teams

15 February 2023

Following the South African Rugby Union’s (SARU) withdrawal of the invitation to apartheid Israeli team Tel Aviv Heat, Palestinian athletes and sports lovers under the Right To Movement campaign (RTM) commented:  “SARU did the right thing!...the South African Rugby Union and its member teams have ensured that they will not be complicit in Israel’s crimes against Palestinians, just as many did in the case of Apartheid South Africa”.

It is slanderous that the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) and the South African Friends of Israel (SAFI) are promulgating the myth that the BDS Movement is implicated in threatening and bullying behaviour as well as reported death threats made on SARU members. 

The South African BDS Coalition is affiliated to the Palestinian led global BDS movement,  a non-violent global campaign representing the broadest coalition of Palestinian civil society including trade unions, human rights and grass roots organisations and all political parties, calling on the world to end complicity with apartheid Israel. 

The BDS Movement adheres to the principles of opposing all forms of racism including anti-Semitism and Islamophobia and supporting intersectional struggles for human rights and justice. 

Tired claims from the Zionist lobby that the BDS movement and all those that support the Palestinian struggle are anti-Semitic have been proven not to hold water by the Constitutional Court, our highest judicial body. Weaponising anti-Semitism is in itself an attempt to bully and threaten anyone that speaks out against the settler-colonial Israeli state and its apartheid regime.

The Palestinian RTM stated: “We are inspired by the South African people’s longstanding support for Palestinian rights.  We are equally inspired by the unprecedented number of active teams and athletes across the world who are standing on the right side of history and refusing to sportswash Israeli Apartheid.”

John Minto, former National Organiser for HART (Halt All Racist Tours) which successfully campaigned to stop rugby contact between New Zealand and apartheid South Africa in the 1970s and 1980s and current National Chair of the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa said:

 “Palestinians are asking South Africa for the same international solidarity given to black South Africans struggling under apartheid – boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel – and SARU should be proud to honour this request.

Developing a policy whereby SARU condemns the apartheid state of Israel and declares it will not compete with Israeli teams until everyone living in historic Palestine has equal rights would be a good first step.”

The world is watching: South African sports organisations and the South African government have a political and moral duty to heed the Palestinian call for solidarity and implement policy for a sports boycott. Rugby should never side with apartheid.

Issued by BDS, 16 February 2023