An Israeli women’s water polo match was canceled on Nov. 5 in Spain due to pressure from the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement.
The match, which was set to occur on Nov. 6 as part of the European championship, was initially scheduled to take place at the Nautical Club in Molins de Rei, a Barcelona suburb. However, the club backed out of the event, a move that reportedly “shocked” the Israeli team, according to Haaretz.
Revital Gluska, president of the Israeli Water Polo Association, told Channel 10 that she had initially thought the cancellation was due to an “internal matter.”
“But then the [Israeli] embassy in Spain contacted me, and said that the city council there caved into BDS pressure,” Gluska said.
Gluska added that the city’s mayor and the head of the Spanish Olympic Committee apologized for the matter.
The match was rescheduled to occur at a different Barcelona suburb on Nov. 6.
The water polo match was in fact played. (Israel lost 11-5.) And supporters from the Barcelona Jewish community (shown below) were allowed in to root for them.
Many thanks to friends in Barcelona who took action to make yet another #BDSfail ! pic.twitter.com/kuciw8cUxE
— Andrew Srulevitch (@AndrewADL_EUR) November 6, 2018
“It is very upsetting when politics interferes with sports,” Gluska said. “We will continue to focus on our mission for this visit, promoting Israeli water polo and closing the gap with a top world [champion] team.”
As the Journal has previously reported, Spain’s courts struck down municipality BDS laws earlier in 2018 after efforts from The Lawfare Project.
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