Spaniards protest against Israel ahead of Real Madrid-Tel Aviv Maccabi game

Protesters wave Palestinian flags and shout slogans outside WiZink Centre in Madrid 

-MADRID, Spain- (AA)

Demonstrators gathered in Madrid on Tuesday to protest the arrival of the Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball team and Israel, accusing the country of using sports to obscure human rights violations against Palestinians.

The protest, organized by several Palestinian Solidarity Movement groups and Spain’s left-wing Podemos party, took place outside the WiZink Center in Madrid ahead of a Turkish Airlines EuroLeague game between Real Madrid and Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Protesters waved Palestinian flags and chanted slogans including “Boycott Israel,” “Murderer Israel,” “Free Palestine” and “Long live Palestine’s freedom struggle.”

The general secretary of Podemos, Ione Belarra, joined the protest and accused Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians.

She criticized Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares for his stance that “sports should be kept separate from politics” after calls to block the Maccabi Tel Aviv team and its fans from entering Madrid.

“While Albares initiated efforts within the EU to exclude Russia from sporting activities over its invasion of Ukraine, he defends the separation of sports and politics when it comes to Israel, which commits genocide,” Belarra said. “This is hypocrisy and complicity in Israel’s crime of genocide.”

She called on the Spanish government to sever all ties with Tel Aviv.

Spanish police maintained tight security around the sports venue, and the demonstration attracted significant media attention.

Separately, activists in Spain’s Basque region called for the cancellation of another Turkish Airlines EuroLeague game between Baskonia and Maccabi Tel Aviv scheduled for Feb. 7.

The group Palestinarekin Elkartasuna accused Israel of using Maccabi Tel Aviv to “normalize its genocide against Palestinians.”

“Through this propaganda, Israel aims to improve the image of the Zionist state and dissociate itself from colonialism,” the group said in a statement. “No event that normalizes genocide should be allowed.”

Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza which began in October 2023 is expected to end following the cease-fire agreement between Hamas and Israel. However, the devastating genocidal onslaught with its dizzying civilian death toll shall haunt human memory and be written as the darkest chapter of human history.

The death toll has outstripped 46,600, and the destruction is nearly complete. The rebuilding of infrastructure will take several years, while the rebuilding of shattered lives will take generations to heal, if ever.