BARCELONA, Spain — Spanish sports minister Pilar Alegria said late on Wednesday night that Israeli teams should be banned from sports in the same way that Russian sides broadly were in 2022 after the country’s invasion of Ukraine, decrying what she called a “double standard.”
The presence of a team named Israel-Premier Tech at the Vuelta a Espana cycling grand tour has led to huge protests in Spain, whose government has described Israel’s offensive in Gaza as “a genocide.”
Israel-Premier Tech is a private outfit owned by billionaire Israeli-Canadian property developer Sylvan Adams, not a state team, but it has been hailed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for refusing to quit the Vuelta despite vehement protests.
“It is difficult to explain and understand that there is a double standard,” Alegria told Spanish radio station Cadena SER.
“Given that there has been such a massacre, a genocide, such an absolutely terrible situation we are living through day-by-day, I would agree that the international federations and committees should take the same decision as in 2022,” she added.
“No team, no club from Russia participated in an international competition, and when the individuals participated, they did it under a neutral flag and without a national anthem.”
Alegria said she would like Vuelta organizers to block Israel-Premier Tech from competing, but accepted that such a decision could only be made by cycling world governing body UCI.
The Palestinian cause is backed by many Spaniards, including the left-wing government, which recognized a Palestinian state last year.
Last week, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said that he would “understand and be in favor” of removing Israel-Premier Tech from the Vuelta a España, but stressed the government does not claim to have the power to do so.
Various stages of the Vuelta have been affected by protests, with stages 11 and 16 shortened during racing, while Thursday’s stage 18 time trial has also been cut short in advance for security reasons.
Alegria said she hopes the race can be completed, with Sunday’s final stage heading into Madrid expected to be targeted by various protests.
“It would not be good news if the race cannot finish,” said Alegria.
“However what we’re seeing these days with the protests is in my opinion logical,” she added.
“(The protests) are a clear representation of what the people feel, sport cannot be distanced from the world that surrounds it.”
The war was triggered on October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian terror group Hamas led over 5,000 attackers to invade southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, and abducting 251 as hostages to Gaza.
“(Israel) have killed more than 60,000 people, children, babies starving to death, hospitals destroyed,” added Alegria.
“So it is important that sport, given this situation, takes a position at least similar to what it did against Russia.”
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 64,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.
Israel says it has killed over 22,000 combatants in battle as of August and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught. Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.
Israel also vehemently denies carrying out a genocide in Gaza and says disputes assertions that there is a famine in parts of Gaza.
Madrid ramped up security measures on Thursday ahead of the final stage of the Vuelta a Espana.
Sunday’s final stage of cycling’s third grand tour ends in the Spanish capital after a 111-kilometer run from Alalpardo.
“The municipal police will have nearly 800 personnel deployed… the initial plan was for approximately 500 officers for the (part of the) route in the city of Madrid, about 40 kilometers long,” Inma Sanz, Madrid’s first deputy mayor, told a news conference.
She said the planned deployment was “almost doubled,” a day after the central government’s representation in Madrid said there would be “extraordinary” reinforcements at the final stage.
The 800 municipal police officers will join 1,100 national police officers sent to prevent further disruptions.
Protesters have burst onto the course and caused crashes, among other flashpoints across the three-week race.
Race director Javier Guillen has said the intention is to finish the race in Madrid on Sunday as planned and called the disruptions illegal.
In addition to the incidents at the Vuelta a España, a Spanish chess tournament earlier this month reportedly forbade Israeli players from competing under their national flag, before reversing its decision, underscoring the growing international hostility to Israel over the ongoing war in Gaza against Hamas.
Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s leftist coalition government has taken one of Europe’s strongest pro-Palestinian stances, straining ties with Israel.
On Monday, Sanchez announced an arms embargo and partial import ban over Israel’s wartime conduct in Gaza, setting off an angry back-and-forth that culminated in Madrid pulling its envoy from Tel Aviv.
Spain’s government has prohibited sales and purchases of military equipment with Israel since the start of the war; however, the recently announced measures would enshrine the prohibition in law, Sanchez said in a statement.