Eleven groups oppose Cyprus hosting Maccabi Tel Aviv’s EuroLeague home games

Limassol, Cyprus. Eleven organisations, including Boycott-Divestment-Sanctions (BDS) and the Cyprus Peace Council, said on Friday that Cyprus should not host Maccabi Tel Aviv’s EuroLeague home games, describing the arrangement as “sportswashing”.

Opposition to hosting arrangement

In a joint statement, the organisations said they “strongly oppose” Israeli basketball clubs playing home fixtures on the island.

The Spyros Kyprianou arena in Limassol has been formally approved as Maccabi Tel Aviv’s home venue, with the first game scheduled for October 22.

The groups argued that “Palestinian athletes are being killed, imprisoned and denied basic conditions” to train and compete, while Cyprus offers an Israeli sporting institution “a safe and convenient home”. They said this allows the club’s international fixtures to continue with minimal disruption.

Statement cites Gaza stadium

The statement referred to Al-Yarmouk Stadium in Gaza, which the organisations said Israeli forces had turned into a “detention site”.

They said footage showed Palestinians, including children, stripped to their underwear and held on the pitch, and that the stadium was later left in ruins.

A caption in the statement said CNN and Sky News had independently geolocated the footage to the stadium. It also said the UN Commission of Inquiry later verified footage showing men and boys detained and stripped at the site.

Questions over public resources

The organisations said moving the games to Limassol helps preserve the appearance that Israeli sporting life can continue normally, “insulated from the destruction of Palestinian sporting and civilian life”.

They said Cypriots are providing the infrastructure and policing that make the arrangement possible, and that the public has a right to know “who agreed to it, how much the security operation will cost and why public resources should be used”.