Israel worried scrapped Argentina match to herald more boycotts

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM  — Israel complained on Thursday after Argentina cancelled a football match with Israel, worried that a strengthening boycott regarding Palestinian rights and ending the occupation could affect its hosting of the 2019 Eurovision song contest.

The World Cup warm-up match, planned for Saturday in occupied Jerusalem, was called off on Tuesday after a campaign by the Palestinians, with Israeli newspapers pointing fingers at Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev, who was behind the game’s relocation from the northern Israeli city of Haifa to the divided holy city.

An opinion piece in the left-wing Haaretz newspaper said Regev had scored an “own goal” after “imposing politics on sports”.

Politicians were quick to seize on the cancellation, with opposition leader Isaac Herzog telling public radio on Thursday that it was “a failure with Regev’s name on it”.

The Argentine Football Association said that with the World Cup beginning on June 14, the squad needed to “focus on what is really important”.

The Palestinians said the Argentinians pulled out of the match after they realised Israel was using its presence in Jerusalem for political gain.

Eurovision fears 

Unconfirmed reports in Israeli media spoke of a possible rescheduling of the game — again in Jerusalem — but officials feared the high-profile cancellation would cause long-term damage to Israel’s international standing, particularly after over 100 Palestinians were killed by Israeli occupation forces during demonstrations on the Gaza border, 60 of which were killed in a single day as the US moved its controversial new embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.

Rotem Kamer, head of the Israel Football Association, said Argentina cancelled the match because of pressure from Palestinians and the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement — which leads a global campaign against the Israeli occupation, targeting the country’s economy, art scene and sports.

“It’s inconceivable that teams won’t come here in official capacities,” Kamer told public radio.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, quoted by Israeli media accompanying him on a visit to London, said he was concerned “there could be pressure to cancel other events in other fields as well”.

Israel sees the BDS movement as a strategic threat and accuses it of anti-Semitism — a claim activists firmly deny, calling it an attempt to discredit them.

Several politically active musicians have called off shows in Israel in the past few years, including Lauryn Hill and Elvis Costello, with New Zealand singer Lorde pulling out of a Tel Aviv show in December.

Netanyahu did not specify which other events might face pressures, but when Israel won the Eurovision 2018 song contest — winning Israel the right to host the contest next year — Regev said it would be held in contested Jerusalem.

Israel considers Jerusalem its “indivisible” capital, while Palestinians claim the eastern part of the city — occupied by Israel in 1967 and later annexed — as the capital of their future state.

On Thursday, Israeli officials involved in the song competition were cited by Haaretz as saying there was “unease” in the European Broadcasting Union about holding the contest in Jerusalem next year.

An EBU spokesperson told AFP on Thursday that the final decision on the location of next year’s contest would be made “by the host broadcaster in conjunction with the EBU and its members”.

Regev, meanwhile, has dug in her heels.

“If they try to relocate the Eurovision from Jerusalem, I’ll suggest to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to invest the 50 million shekels ($14 million) and give up hosting the Eurovision in Israel,” she told Yediot Aharonot.