South African Rugby Union Disinvites Tel Aviv team

On February 3 the South African Rugby Union (SARU) disinvited the Tel Aviv rugby team on from an upcoming rugby tournament in March.

SARU President Mark Alexander said that the Tel Aviv Heat had been disinvited from the March 24 Mzansi Challenge Rugby Tournament after listening “to the opinions of important stakeholder groups and have taken this decision to avoid the likelihood of the competition becoming a source of division.”

Jewish groups denounced SARU’s decision.

“The SARU’s decision was reportedly taken due to pressure from the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, a campaign that seeks to demonize Israel in every manner possible, including by marginalizing them throughout the sporting world,” Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt wrote in a February 15 letter to World Rugby Chairman Sir Bill Beaumont. “Sadly, over the past few years, the politicizing of sporting events has become an all too frequent occurrence for Israeli athletes.” He added that World Rugby’s mission statement explicitly says that they “exist to ensure that rugby is accessible and inclusive for all” and that the SARU decision “grossly” violated the statement. “We therefore strongly urge World Rugby to speak out on this matter, making it clear the importance of ensuring the Israeli team is not discriminated against and be allowed to compete in the Mzansi Challenge,” Greenblatt concluded.

International Legal Forum (ILF) CEO Arsen Ostrovsky wrote in a February 15 letter to Alexander that was obtained by the Journal that Alexander did not consult with the Tel Aviv Heat before making the decision. “We can only deduce therefore that SA Rugby took the independent decision to cowardly cave-in to extremist anti-Israel forces and groups promoting the racist Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel in South Africa,” Ostrovsky wrote. “Who better than South Africa knows the power of sport, and in particular rugby, to be a force for good and a vehicle to promote peace, teamwork, tolerance and bring people together, the very antithesis of BDS, which relies on tactics of intimidation, violence, bigotry and exclusion.” Ostrovsky argued that the decision to exclude the Tel Aviv team violated both the World Rugby Handbook and the SARU constitution’s clauses mandating inclusivity, and that the ILF is considering “all possible legal avenues, including, but not limited to, filing a formal complaint against SA Rugby with the World Rugby body.”

StandWithUs said in a statement that they agree with the Tel Aviv team’s statement that disinviting them “will only sow further division in South Africa and beyond by bolstering voices dedicated to vilify, demonize, and censor those who do not share their views” and that it “runs contrary to the spirit and core values of rugby, promotes the politics of hatred and retribution over the best interests of sport, and exposes the Tel Aviv Heat and its supporters to being targeted by aggressive, hateful language designed to intimidate, delegitimize, and silence.”

“SARU’s indefensible, and contradictory position is even more hypocritical because the Tel Aviv Heat was previously invited to South Africa by the Blue Bulls and participated in three matches in March 2022,” StandWithUs said. “So, what has changed in eleven months? SARU owes the South African public, the global rugby fans, and the international sports parent bodies an explanation as to why they suddenly chose to implement a double standard against Israel and which ‘important stakeholders’ they consulted before they implemented such a hostile and unfair decision.”

The Israel Rugby Union and Tel Aviv Heat gave an ultimatum to SARU on February 21: answer their questions on why they disinvited the Heat and rescind the decision by February 22 or risk facing legal action, The Algemeiner reported.

The World Rugby and SARU did not immediately respond to the Journal’s request for comment.

This article has been updated.