Algerian lawyers boycott Morocco football championship due to Israel’s participation

Rabat (QNN)- Algerian lawyers on Thursday decided to boycott a football match for lawyers due to Israel’s participation as a sign of “solidarity with the Palestinian people and their just cause.”

The Algiers Lawyers Organization team announced on Thursday evening that the lawyers decided to boycott the competition which started on Saturday in Morocco due to Israeli occupation participation.

“The team decided to boycott the football tournament for lawyers (in Morocco), not to participate in it, and to refrain from entering Moroccan territory,” the statement said.

“The team decided to return from Tunisia, where it was on its way to participate.”

The statement added that such a step came after officially confirming the participation of Israeli teams in the competition held in an Arab country.

“This constitutes a step towards normalization with Israel, which goes against the principles of the Algerian government and people who reject any form of normalization and who show solidarity with the Palestinian people and their just cause.”

Marrakesh was scheduled to host the 20th football championship for lawyers from Saturday until 15 May.

This is not the first time Arab players reject to play against players and teams from the occupation state of ‘Israel’.

At the 2016 Rio Olympics, the International Olympic Committee sent Egyptian Islam El Shehaby home before the end of the Games for refusing to shake the hand of an Israeli athlete.

Last July, Sudan’s Mohamed Abdalrasool didn’t show up to face the Israeli player Tohar Butbul in their round of 32 bout, despite weighing in for the bout earlier, as a form of rejecting normalization with the occupation state.

In January, 14-year-old Kuwaiti tennis player, Muhammad Al-Awadi, also pulled out from the international tennis tournament held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to avoid facing an Israeli opponent.

Also, Algerian Fethi Nourine withdrew from facing the same Israeli player, saying he didn’t want to compete against Butbul due to his political support of Palestine. Nourine had also withdrawn from the World Championship in 2019 after he was unlucky in the lottery, being matched with an Israeli settler.

Earlier this month, Kuwaiti chess player, Bader Al-Hajri, also withdrew from the competitions of the Sunway International Chess Championship held in Spain as he refused to face an Israeli settler in solidarity with the Palestinian people.