Spanish minister calls for Israeli teams to be banned from sports

Spanish sports minister Pilar Alegría said on Thursday 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, highlighting a "double standard".

The presence of a team named Israel-Premier Tech at the Vuelta a España 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 has been hailed by Israeli 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," Alegría 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."

Alegría said she would like Vuelta organisers to block Israel-Premier Tech from competing but accepted that such a decision could only be taken by cycling world governing body UCI.

READ ALSO: Why Spain's top cycling race has been rocked by pro-Palestinian protests

'Logical protests'

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.

Alegría 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 Alegría.

"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."

Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's leftist coalition government has taken one of Europe's strongest pro-Palestinian stances, straining ties with Israel.

Israel launched its Gaza offensive in October 2023 in retaliation for an unprecedented cross-border attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.

Israel's bombardment has killed at least 64,600 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations says are reliable.

"(Israel) have killed more than 60,000 people, children, babies starving to death, hospitals destroyed," added Alegría.

"So it is important that sport, given this situation, takes a position at least similar to what it did against Russia."