Premier Soccer League side Orlando Pirates have refused to heed calls by the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions coalition to refrain from playing a friendly game this week against an Israeli team.
PREMIER Soccer League side Orlando Pirates have refused to heed calls by the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) coalition to refrain from playing a friendly game this week against an Israeli team.
Pirates are set to play against Maccabi Tel Aviv in Spain on Thursday.
However, BDS says Pirates should not honour the fixture because of the ongoing human rights violations Israel continues to mete out on Palestinians.
In the last three weeks, Israeli raids and attacks in Jenin have led to the death of more than 12 Palestinians.
This is said to be the largest attack in Jenin in many years.
But the South African soccer club said on Monday that it would not boycott the match against Maccabi Tel Aviv, as it was not organising the match.
The friendly game has been organised by a Fifa agent.
Other teams participating in the friendly matches are from Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Pirates said it had been part of the struggle against apartheid when the regime harassed its non-racial team.
It said it had led efforts of reconciliation and unity in sport when apartheid ended in the early 1990s.
The club also said it hoped that a peaceful solution would be found in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“As a club that has its roots in a conflict-ridden South Africa and has been an active participant in the dismantling of apartheid, Orlando Pirates is naturally conscious of the plight of the Palestinian people. Of the many forces that seek a long-overdue solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Orlando Pirates stand with those that believe a path exists for men and women of courage to continue coming together to find a lasting solution that South Africa proved to the world can be found when there is a will and courage,” the club said.
It added: “Orlando Pirates’ core functioning is governed by rules. It is to the rules that Orlando Pirates went when confronted with calls to withdraw from playing Maccabi Tel Aviv. There is no cultural boycott or boycott of any form by either the South African government, Fifa or the host country that Orlando Pirates can base its refusal to play against Maccabi Tel Aviv on. Heeding a call from any other body would create a conflict within Orlando Pirates that would undermine the club’s values and history irreparably.”
