Return to Spain or “return to Palestine”?

By Elías Levy Benarroch

Slovenian cyclist Primoz Roglic of the Red Bull Bora team won the Vuelta a España on Sunday in Madrid. He did so for the fourth time, equalling the record of victories held by Spanish cyclist Roberto Heras.

But beyond the sporting aspect, the last Vuelta has been characterized by aggressive politicization promoted by the BDS movement to win the opinion of fans and try to have the “Israel Premier Tech” team disqualified.

These were not pleasant scenes for any Israeli, and certainly not for the members of the Israeli team, one of whose riders won stage 13 (Canadian Mike Woods) and who finished in the middle of the team standings: 11th out of 22.

Palestinian flags at many of the goals

But as has been happening in other major international competitions, the BDS movement, with the support of radical left-wing Spanish politicians, has tried – without success – to get the Israeli team disqualified and has taken advantage of the Vuelta to place Palestinian flags in many of the most emblematic stages and at the finish lines.

The most emblematic one was perhaps the flag that was placed on a historic bridge over the Tajo in Ronda, one of the most iconic places in Andalusia. But it was not the only one, by any means. There were flags in particular in the areas with the most pro-Palestinian activism in the country.

From the Israeli team, its general manager, Ido Shalev, regretted in an interview with Aurora the politicization of a sporting event like the Vuelta, but also played down the phenomenon: “It is very sad that they try to drag this sport into politics, but there were not so many protesters, neither thousands nor hundreds. It is a group that I suppose has been paid to go from stage to stage. Everything was very well prepared and, really, they knew where to position themselves: at the finish line, which is where they can be seen.”

According to local media in Spain, which have reported on the unusual phenomenon, the main centres of these protests have been in Andalusia, in the south of the country, and in several regions in the north, all of them areas where the left has a notable presence and the BDS has many followers through local trade union organisations and pensioners, as well as pro-independence activity.

Last week, the Spanish newspaper El Debate lamented in an article that the young Spanish rider Pablo Castillo won the stage on Mount Cuitu Negro without a single Spanish flag being seen at the finish line, only Palestinian ones. Throughout much of the 21-day competition, the BDS and its acolytes in Spain have been busy defaming Israel, accusing the organizers of “whitewashing the genocide” allegedly perpetrated by the IDF in Gaza by allowing the “Israel-Premier Tech” team to participate in the race.

Speaking to Aurora, the owner, Canadian-Israeli businessman Silvan Adams, says that these people are very confused and does not hesitate to call them “ignorant”. “They have a mistaken concept, they associate their own political objectives – for example the Basque and Catalan separatists, but there is no lack of national movements in Spain – with Israel and the Palestinians. They completely misunderstand the issue, they are completely ignorant… They do not understand that the Jews are the indigenous people of Eretz Israel,” he says.

Accustomed to this type of thing in other European competitions, Adams pointed out that the team has had special security –both its own and from the Spanish Police- throughout the competition, in anticipation of any incident, which has not occurred.

Madrid. The Israeli response

The tension was felt most strongly on the streets of Madrid, when in the last stage, on Sunday, the local police asked the pro-Palestinian activists to hand over their flagpoles, a common practice at this type of sporting event. Curiously, in Madrid the presence of pro-Palestinian activists was not as noticeable as in other cities.

Left-wing political leaders, activists and even some media outlets flooded social media, denouncing the police for allegedly “taking away their flags” and asking some of them for identification for registration purposes.

But nothing could be further from the truth. The same measure was adopted by a small group of Israelis and members of the Jewish community who decided to emulate the BDS and stand next to the finish line in the centre of Madrid, with Israeli flags to counter the pro-Palestinian initiative.

Larissa Drachler, who has lived in Madrid for years, says she came to the final stage to support the Israeli team because “I understood that not only did they not have any support, but they had also witnessed hate speech throughout the entire route” of the Vuelta. She said she had witnessed “with her own eyes” these expressions, “people with Palestinian flags shouting ‘Zionist murderers’ or ‘Israel does not exist’.”

The presence of the small group, between 15 and 20 people positioned with Israeli flags at different points, did not go unnoticed. Adams, who usually does a reconnaissance run with his riders before each stage, said he noticed Israeli flags: “It was nice to have a bit of support on our side.”

Also seeing them was the rider Nadav Reisberg, the only Israeli of the eight that Israel Premier Tech presented in competition in this Vuelta.

Since October 7, Spain has been among the European countries most hostile to Israel because of the IDF's operations in the Gaza Strip following the massacre perpetrated by Hamas. The government of socialist Pedro Sánchez has not only recognized the Palestinian State, but has also supported the request presented to the International Criminal Court for the arrest of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, among many other measures. Before the end of the year, Spain will hold a high-level binational summit with "the State of Palestine."

But politics aside, the Israeli team directors say that what they saw at the Vuelta is nothing more than “small, vociferous groups that do not represent the silent majority” and that, of course, they have nothing to do with “the warm treatment that Israel Premier Tech has received from other teams and riders, or from the organizers themselves.”