Tour of Britain - Don't Ride with Genocide
We call upon British Cycling, as organisers of The Tour of Britain 2024 to exclude Israel Premier Tech from this year’s event, and any subsequent events organised, as it attempts to use cycling to sanitise and launder Israel’s well documented crimes, including apartheid and genocide.
Email British Cycling organisers
Billionaire co-owner Sylvan Adams, a self-styled 'Ambassador at large for the state of Israel,' sees sport as a means of enhancing the country's standing amid its trial at the ICJ for the crime of genocide and its system of apartheid—a common diversion tactic known in the human rights community as sports-washing. "My brand is Israel," Adams has publicly declared in the press. "It is a proud Zionist project." For Adams and the team, racing is about rewriting the narrative of Israel through sports; Team Israel Premier Tech serves as a testament to the power of sports in branding and nation branding.
There have been many links made between the human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia, China, and Russia and their investment in sports, which have led to boycotts, protests, and, in Russia and Belarus' case, due to the war in Ukraine, expulsion from international competitions. Israel should be no different.
Russia was expelled from cycling due to its war on Ukraine. Why has Israel, whose ongoing apartheid and genocide against Gaza and ongoing bombing against four other peaceful nations (Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Yemen), not been treated the same? The ICJ has ruled that the situation in Gaza is a genocide and that Israel is committing multiple war crimes under international law. The ICJ's evidence should be the only proof to bar Israel from competition. It is not a matter of opinion. It is a fact under international law.
Israel Premier Tech's primary objective is that when you hear "Israel," you don't think of IOF snipers paralysing athletes, 16,000 dead children in Gaza, or the raping of Palestinian detainees. Instead, they want you to focus on Chris Froome making a record-breaking time or Tel Aviv's rooftop bars, as evidenced by Israel's Tourism Board team jerseys and their social media feed. They have politicized their team - with endless posts about the hostages on their team page back starting in October. They chose to make the team a Zionist project that was indistinguishable from the state of Israel and its policies rather than a pro cycling team.
Email British Cycling organisers
The team and its ownership certainly don't want people to think of Gaza's Paralympic cycling team, Gaza Sunbirds, which is made up of amputees who've lost their limbs as a result of Israeli aggression. Alaa, their founder, whose leg had to be amputated after an Israeli sniper shot him and then denied access to medical treatment, said, "I had a dream of being a champion with both legs. After my amputation, I am determined to be a champion for Palestine with one. We are riding for freedom."
Sylvan Adams has made his thoughts on Gaza's athletes clear. His barrage of unsolicited messages on social media to author and renowned humanitarian and cycling advocate Shannon Galpin, who worked with the first generation of Afghan cyclists for a decade and facilitated the safe evacuation of hundreds of Afghans, including the original women's national cycling team, are indicative of his misogynist, racist and Islamophobic views. A direct quote from his messages, "Those lovely Palestinians that you adore would rape you and kill you or hold you as a sex slave for ransom if you went anywhere near their lovely land."
It is not only Adams that holds these views. Chris Froome's manager and agent, Michelle Froomw, posted a barrage of Islamaphobic tweets earlier this year, writing 'There are no innocent Gazans' and 'We don't want your religion, we don't want your beliefs. It is not compatible with modern civilisation.'.
Email British Cycling organisers
Adam's anti-Palestinian racism steers his desire to cover up Israel's crimes through its participation in cycling on an international stage. British Cycling must not allow Israel to sports wash its genocide through cycling. The UK must stop providing cover through sports and culture for an apartheid state, which since October has slaughtered at least 46,000 Palestinians, including 16,000 children and over 300 athletes, referees, and sports officials.
For many British Cycling members and Palestinians alike, cycling is synonymous with freedom, the open road, and the intimate connection between humans and the land. For Palestinian cyclists living under occupation, facing checkpoints, arbitrary arrests, raids, and state terror, the bike is their quiet form of resistance. For those in Gaza, even this brief reprieve is no longer possible as Israel destroys all infrastructure, and even carrying a bicycle is enough to be the target of a drone strike.
The ICJ's recent ruling on the Israeli occupation makes clear that boycotts, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against Israeli occupation, colonisation, and apartheid are not only a moral imperative but also a legal obligation. We support the Palestinian civil society call for BDS, and their identification of the Israel Premier Tech team as a legitimate target due to their primary function: to launder Israel's crimes against humanity.
Email British Cycling organisers