BDS launches its 6th online campaign against PUMA
PUMA sponsors Israeli Football teams based in settlements
Jerusalem24 – The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement launched the 6th online campaign against German sports equipment and apparel company, Puma, for supporting Israeli football teams based in settlements.
BDS stated on its Facebook page that the campaign aims to “pressure the company to end its complicity with the settler-colonial regime and the Israeli apartheid, which commits crimes that make the lives of our Palestinian people miserable.”
Puma is one of the main sponsors of the Israel Football Association (IFA), which includes teams in Israel’s illegal settlements on occupied Palestinian land.
There are growing calls globally to boycott the sportswear manufacturer Puma which activists say is violating international law and human rights by aiding and abetting Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land.
Last year, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged FIFA, an international governing body association for football, which the IFA is affiliated with, to take action against football clubs in the occupied territories.
“The settlement clubs play their home games on land unlawfully seized from Palestinians, and West Bank Palestinians are not allowed to enter the settlements to play, coach, or even watch the matches,” said the Human Rights body.
In 2018, Puma signed a four-year multimillion-dollar deal with the IFA making the company the official kit partner of Israel’s national football teams. According to activists, Puma has also financed the building and sponsorship of several football pitches on occupied Palestinian land.
Among the most prominent successes achieved by the campaign to put pressure on Puma, according to the movement, Qatar Club announced that it did not intend to renew its contract with the company, the largest Malaysian university terminated Puma’s sponsorship agreement for its football team, and the English club Chester decided not to contract with Puma.”
