{"id":133055,"date":"2025-09-10T15:23:28","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T15:23:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/133055\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T15:23:28","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T15:23:28","slug":"montreal-based-human-rights-group-asks-city-to-bar-israeli-cyclists-from-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/133055\/","title":{"rendered":"Montreal-based human rights group asks city to bar Israeli cyclists from race"},"content":{"rendered":"

MONTREAL \u2014 A Montreal-based human rights group has asked Mayor Val\u00e9rie Plante to bar the Israel-Premier Tech cycling team from competing in next week\u2019s Grand Prix Cycliste de Montr\u00e9al amid the war in Gaza.<\/p>\n

The race is set for Sunday, September 14. Palestinian and Jewish Unity, or PAJU, urged the city on Monday to exclude the squad, whose Canadian-Israeli co-owner, Sylvan Adams, has described the riders as ambassadors for Israel. The team has since referred to itself as simply a \u201cprofessional cycling team\u201d in response to protests.<\/p>\n

It was the latest incident in which Israeli players have faced growing international hostility over the ongoing war in Gaza against Hamas.<\/p>\n

In its letter to the city, PAJU\u2019s lawyers said it would be \u201chighly harmful and inexplicable\u201d for Israel-Premier Tech to compete in the publicly funded event. The letter cites Israeli human rights groups that have described Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza as genocide.<\/p>\n

PAJU, made up of Jews, Palestinians and other Canadians, said the City of Montreal \u2014 a public partner of the race \u2014 \u201cexposes itself to a real risk of complicity and whitewashing of these crimes through sport, commonly known as \u2018sportswashing.’\u201d<\/p>\n

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The war in Gaza was triggered by Palestinian terror group Hamas on October 7, 2023, when it led a devastating invasion of southern Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 251 abducted as hostages to Gaza, where 48 remain in captivity.<\/p>\n

PAJU\u2019s lawyers gave the city until Tuesday at 4 p.m. to remove Israel-Premier Tech from the participation list.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we do not receive written confirmation of the team\u2019s exclusion \u2026 we are mandated to initiate, on behalf of our client, any legal recourse deemed appropriate, without further notice or delay,\u201d the letter read.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protesters wave flags as riders await the start of the 15th stage of the Vuelta a Espana cycling tour, a 167 km race between A Veiga\/Vegadeo and Monforte de Lemos, on September 7, 2025. (Miguel RIOPA \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

Asked about the demand, a spokesperson for Israel-Premier Tech said: \u201cNo response needed on our end.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal said the race organizers would not comment, while the City of Montreal and the UCI World Tour did not respond to requests by Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n

The demand follows recent calls in Spain for the team to withdraw from the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a after a series of disruptions by pro-Palestinian protesters.<\/p>\n

Spain\u2019s foreign minister also said he would support expelling<\/a> Israel-Premier Tech from the Vuelta.<\/p>\n

The Vuelta protests prompted Israel-Premier Tech to change its riders\u2019 uniforms at the race.<\/p>\n

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced his support for the team on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cGreat job to Sylvan and Israel\u2019s cycling team for not giving in to hate and intimidation. You make Israel proud!\u201d Netanyahu said in a social media post.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Pier-Andre Cote from the Israel Premier Tech team rides during the eleventh stage of the Spanish Vuelta cycling race, from Bilbao to Bilbao, Spain, Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025. (AP Photo\/Miguel Oses)<\/p>\n

Israel-Premier Tech\u2019s team at the Vuelta includes Canadian rider Pier-Andr\u00e9 C\u00f4t\u00e9.
Other Canadian riders on the IPT roster include Michael Woods, Hugo Houle, Guillaume Boivin, Riley Pickrell and Derek Gee, who is currently in a contract dispute with the team. Former Canadian star Steve Bauer is the team\u2019s sporting manager.<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s title sponsor, Premier Tech, is based in Rivi\u00e8re-du-Loup, Quebec.
Jean B\u00e9langer, president and CEO of Premier Tech, and fellow Canadian Kevin Ham, founder and CEO of Reinvent and Chit Chats Canada, are partners in the team.<\/p>\n

The Montreal race follows the Grand Prix Cycliste de Qu\u00e9bec, set for Friday in Quebec City. They are the only North American events on the UCI World Tour, the top men\u2019s road cycling circuit.<\/p>\n

PAJU said it had not issued the same demand to Quebec City.<\/p>\n

Since the most recent Gaza war began in October 2023, pro-Palestinian protests have regularly taken place in Montreal, most notably a months-long encampment at McGill University\u2019s downtown campus last year.<\/p>\n

The Grand Prix also comes amid ongoing friction in Quebec over Muslim prayers during pro-Palestinian demonstrations, including outside Montreal\u2019s Notre-Dame Basilica. On August 28, the provincial government said it would move to ban prayer in public places.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Riders of the Israel Premier Tech team compete as people holding Palestinian flags try to disrupt the eleventh stage of the Spanish Vuelta cycling race, from Bilbao to Bilbao, Spain, Sept. 3, 2025. (AP Photo\/Miguel Oses)<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Canadian Olympic runner Moh Ahmed and hundreds of others have signed a letter urging Tennis Canada to cancel this weekend\u2019s Davis Cup tie with Israel in Halifax.<\/p>\n

Tennis Canada said in August the Davis Cup tie would go ahead in Halifax under the International Tennis Federation\u2019s competition structure.<\/p>\n

\u201cTennis Canada acknowledges the ongoing and deeply complex situation in the Middle East,\u201d the organization said in a statement. \u201cOur focus remains on ensuring a safe, fair, and professional competition for all athletes, staff, volunteers and spectators.\u201d<\/p>\n


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\t\t\tAlready a member? Sign in to stop seeing this<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MONTREAL \u2014 A Montreal-based human rights group has asked Mayor Val\u00e9rie Plante to bar the Israel-Premier Tech cycling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":133056,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85],"class_list":["post-133055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}