KIGALI, Rwanda – International Cycling Union (UCI) president David Lappartient insisted on Friday that sport cannot be “a tool of sanctions” as calls mount for Israel to be barred from sporting events.

The Vuelta a España grand tour, which ended earlier this month, was massively disrupted by protesters in Spain targeting the Israel-Premier Tech team, which, while not representing the country, is owned by a Jewish businessman with close ties to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Some have called on authorities at the World Championships in Kigali this week and next week’s Europeans in France to bar Israel, because of its ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza.

But Lappartient, who will begin a new four-year mandate at the head of the UCI on Saturday, insisted that that was not the right path to follow.

“The IOC has confirmed our position, which is that sport is not a tool for sanctions but a tool in the service of an ideal, which is to bring people together with the aim of promoting peace,” he said.

“And peace is not brought about through exclusion. Israeli athletes, just like Palestinian athletes and all the world’s athletes, are welcome in our competitions.”

Lappartient also rejected accusations of double standards over the ban of Russian athletes from cycling competitions as Russia continues to wage its bloody war in Ukraine.

“The Russian Olympic Committee is suspended today because in its statutes it has incorporated the four Ukrainian oblasts (largely occupied by Russia) and because Russia attacked Ukraine during the Olympic truce that had been unanimously adopted by the United Nations,” he said.

“So it is not directly because of the war, otherwise, unfortunately, many more countries would be suspended.”

As for the Israel-PT team, he said that it is “very clear that it has the right to participate” in races.

Lappartient resisted pressure from the Spanish government, which openly supported the pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protests that led to the cancellation of the Vuelta’s final stage and other disruptions, to pull the team out of the Spanish grand tour.

“If we start by excluding a team, the next year it will be another, for another reason,” he argued, denouncing the attempt to take the Vuelta “hostage.”

Several stages of the Vuelta were either shortened or neutralized due to the protests, while two riders crashed because of protesters jumping onto the course.

“It is totally unacceptable that protesters jumped onto the route and made riders fall,” said Lappartient.

“At the same time, the [Spanish] prime minister supported the protesters, and it is not by pouring oil on the fire that we will be able to guarantee the safety of our races.”

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.