Abstract
This chapter focuses on events since 2005 and the growing international concern over the plight of the Palestinians, be they living in Israel, the Occupied Territories, as refugees in neighbouring countries or those displaced to further afield. The chapter begins by outlining the boycott, disinvestment and sanctions (BDS) movement that emerged in 2005 and the subsequent responses of the Israeli state and its supporters. It focuses on how UEFAs (Men’s) U21 Tournament, held in Israel in 2013, which offered a platform for both supporters and critics of the Israeli state to advance their agendas and expose the relationship between sport and politics. An assessment is made of the claim that those who opposed Israel’s hosting of the football tournament were guilty of antisemitism and concludes by discussing the importance of distinguishing between antisemitism and anti-Zionism.
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Notes
- 1.
An Arabic word meaning ‘tremor’ or ‘shuddering’.
- 2.
A leading secular Palestinian political party and the largest faction within the confederated multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
- 3.
A Palestinian Islamic organisation with branches across the Middle East, founded originally as an offshoot of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. It won a decisive majority in the Palestinian parliament in 2006. Israel, the USA, the European Union and other states brand it as a terrorist organisation. Other states, including Russia, China and Iran do not.
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Dart, J. (2016). ‘Human Rights or Cheap Code Words for Antisemitism?’ The Debate over Israel, Palestine and Sport Sanctions. In: Dart, J., Wagg, S. (eds) Sport, Protest and Globalisation. Global Culture and Sport Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-46492-7_9
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