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Illustration: Chris Curtis<\/p>\nIllustration: Chris Curtis<\/p>\n
A billionaire with ties to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is using Montreal to bolster Israel\u2019s image on the international stage.<\/p>\n
Canadian businessman Sylvan Adams owns one of the teams competing in Sunday\u2019s Grand Prix Cycliste de Montr\u00e9al, a race featuring professional riders on a track that snakes around Mount Royal 17 times.<\/p>\n
His team, Israel-Premier Tech, showcases Quebec athletes who may not have had opportunities in international competition without Adams\u2019 deep pockets and love for the sport of cycling. But these riders will also be sporting Israel\u2019s colours at a time when two thirds of Canadians believe the country is committing genocide in Gaza.<\/a><\/p>\n Though Adams lives in Israel, the team is actually based in Quebec. As Adams stated in past interviews, he uses the country\u2019s name on his riders\u2019 jerseys as a \u201csports diplomacy\u201d effort. In one of Israel-Premier Tech\u2019s Facebook videos, for instance, Prime Minister Netanyahu rides a bike alongside team members<\/a> and warmly embraces Adams.<\/p>\n The inclusion of an international fugitive<\/a> in the team\u2019s social media is not benign. It\u2019s part of an effort to humanize a politician whose government refers to Palestinians as \u201chuman animals\u201d<\/a> and whose most senior members have called for Gaza to be \u201cwiped off the face of the earth.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n After praising the \u201cmiracles\u201d being carried out by Israel\u2019s army in the strip, Adams recently told the Jewish News Syndicate<\/a> that Gaza is little more than a public relations problem for Israel.<\/p>\n Which is where Montreal comes in.<\/p>\n Our city has hosted the cycling Grand Prix since 2010 and the race is only made possible by millions in funding from the federal<\/a> and municipal governments<\/a>. Municipal workers will close streets for the race and the city\u2019s police force is providing security. Given the role Montreal plays in hosting the Grand Prix, antiwar activists are calling on Mayor Val\u00e9rie Plante to exclude Adams\u2019 team from the race.<\/p>\n The activist group Palestinian Jewish Unity (PAJU) sent a lawyer\u2019s letter to Plante<\/a> Monday, imploring her not to allow Montreal to be used as a prop to salvage the image of a rogue state.<\/p>\n \u201cThis guy, (Adams), he\u2019s buddy-buddy with Netanyahu, a wanted war criminal,\u201d said Chadi Marouf, a member of PAJU. \u201c(Adams) has one goal here: to promote the Israeli narrative. And our city is just going to go along with that?\u201d<\/p>\n When we asked the mayor\u2019s office for a comment, it took two emails and over 24 hours to get the following response: please re-direct your question for the city of Montreal. When I reached out to the city, a spokesperson replied that questions involving the mayor should be directed to the mayor\u2019s office. You cannot make this stuff up.\u00a0<\/p>\n Support plucky, dynamic and (most importantly) independent journalism!<\/a><\/p>\n Eventually, the city decided to wash its hands of the whole thing by sending along this statement:<\/p>\n \u201cThe Grand Prix Cycliste de Montr\u00e9al 2026 is organized by the Grand Prix Cycliste de Qu\u00e9bec and Montreal, to whom you should address your questions.\u201d<\/p>\n Some members of Projet Montr\u00e9al, the Mayor\u2019s party, are less than thrilled with Plante\u2019s handling of the issue but also acknowledge there\u2019s been enormous pressure from the Israel lobby and its allies.<\/p>\n Last year, former NDP leader Thomas Mulcair \u2014 once an ideological ally of the mayor \u2014 accused Plante of normalizing antisemitism <\/a>by not taking attacks against the Jewish community seriously. This despite Plante repeatedly denouncing antisemitism<\/a> and increasing police patrols around synagogues and other Jewish institutions.<\/p>\n They also point out that in 2020, fighting immense pressure from groups like the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, Plante refused to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance\u2019s definition of antisemitism. A large voting block within the Mayor\u2019s party said they were uncomfortable with the IHRA definition as it equates criticism of Israel with hate speech<\/a>.<\/p>\n Regardless, Plante\u2019s administration is widely being criticized by activists who say they will descend en masse at Sunday\u2019s race and bring the fight to the streets of Montreal.<\/p>\n Who is Sylvan Adams?<\/p>\n The son of a Holocaust survivor, Adams inherited his father\u2019s real estate empire \u2014Iberville Developments \u2014 which operates over 100 commercial properties across Canada.<\/p>\n He\u2019s also heavily involved in philanthropic causes, pledging to give away most of his wealth while supporting children\u2019s hospitals, youth sports and educational initiatives.\u00a0<\/p>\n But not all of his charitable work is without controversy.<\/p>\n In an interview with i24 News last year, Adams said he\u2019s provided $100 million of his family\u2019s wealth to protect and rebuild parts of Israel, which includes the purchase of weaponry, ammunition and bulletproof vests<\/a> for \u201ca number of units\u201d in the IDF.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s mop up in Gaza,\u201d he told the interviewer.<\/p>\n Even so, you\u2019d be hard pressed to find a single Canadian politician who has a bad thing to say about Adams.<\/p>\n Federal records show that Adams donated $26,500 to former Liberal Party Leader Justin Trudeau, the Liberal Party of Canada, the Conservative Party of Canada and the New Democratic Party between 2012 and 2015. In fact, he donated $1,200 to Mulcair in 2012. That may not sound like much but, in Canadian politics, that amount of money buys you some serious face time with the country\u2019s political elite.<\/p>\n As pro-Palestinian activists erected encampments<\/a> against the genocide at McGill last year, Adams says he pressured the university\u2019s president, Deep Saini, to crack down on the protests.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m one of the largest donors ever to McGill University,\u201d he told Canadian Jewish News. \u201cAnd I have a very close relationship with the McGill principal Deep Saini.\u201d<\/p>\n When asked what he could do to, with his money, to end the protests at McGill, Adams responded:<\/p>\n \u201cBy continuing to have these conversations so that he knows \u2026 he knows the pressure is there. If there is a new project that (needs funding), I\u2019m going to look at it with a skeptical eye until the problem is resolved.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRolling out the red carpet\u201d<\/p>\n If Israel-Premier Tech is allowed to compete, one activist says it will mean Montreal is \u201crolling out the red carpet for a team that\u2019s covering up a genocide.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSome people are trying to dismiss the protest by saying this should only be about cycling,\u201d said Bill Van Driel, a member of Bikers for Palestine. \u201cWell, they should tell that to Sylvan Adams, who has been direct about his goal to use the team to help Israel\u2019s standing on the international stage.<\/p>\n \u201cThis race cannot happen without the cooperation of the city of Montreal, which will be using its police force as event security and closing its roads to make way for the riders. So to say, \u2018Oh, well it\u2019s up to the organizers\u2019 is an attempt to wash their hands of this during a genocide.\u201d<\/p>\n Footage of Netanyahu and Adams is circulating on social media, where activists promise they\u2019ll make more than a bit of noise at Sunday\u2019s race. Sources within the pro-Palestinian movement say they expect clashes with the police.<\/p>\n Hugo Houle, a Quebecer who races with Israel-Premier Tech, told La Presse he has no qualms about sporting Israel\u2019s colours.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m an athlete, I don\u2019t need to take a position (on the war in Gaza),\u201d Houle said. \u201cWho am I to judge who does what among these parties? Each have their share of responsibility.\u201d However, the 34-year-old cyclist also admitted that by wearing Israel\u2019s logo, \u201cwe are implicated in the conflict in a way because we\u2019re not neutral.\u201d<\/p>\n Sunday\u2019s protests will be the latest in a series of actions against Israel-Premier Tech. During the Spanish Vuelta last month, its cyclists decided to remove the word \u201cIsrael\u201d from their jerseys<\/a> as they were repeatedly targeted by pro-Palestinian protesters throughout the race. Some riders were reportedly the subject of death threats.\u00a0<\/p>\n The team also encountered protesters in Italy this year.<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t the first time Israel-Premier Tech\u2019s presence at the Montreal race has been the subject of controversy. Pro-Palestinian activists have demonstrated at previous Grand Prix events in Montreal, but an organizer with PAJU says this year\u2019s protest will be far bigger than previous ones.<\/p>\n \u201cThis year obviously is much different, we\u2019re in a situation of genocide,\u201d said Marouf. \u201cWith the International Court of Justice, with the International Criminal Court issuing an arrest warrant for Netanyahu, with all of the images of famine, the movement is growing.\u201d<\/p>\n Sportswashing a genocide<\/p>\n The decision to exclude Israel-Premier Tech from Sunday\u2019s race would largely be symbolic given that Israel doesn\u2019t officially have a connection to the team.<\/p>\n And had the mayor stepped in, her administration would have likely had to defend that decision in court while being swarmed with bad faith accusations of antisemitism. But if the team does compete, there\u2019s a chance they make it on the podium, handing Israel a much-needed distraction from images of starving children and bombed out mosques and hospitals.\u00a0<\/p>\n The practice of using athletic competitions to launder a government\u2019s reputation is commonly referred to as \u201csportswashing.\u201d<\/p>\n Following the assassination of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, the government of Saudi Arabia created Riyadh Season, a series of cultural and sporting events that culminate in some of<\/a> the biggest fights<\/a> in boxing\u2019s modern era.\u00a0<\/p>\n Other human rights abusers \u2014 like the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Russia \u2014 have used Formula 1 racing, the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics to bolster their image on the international stage.\u00a0<\/p>\n Just as sportswashing is becoming increasingly common, human rights abusers have also seen their athletes excluded from international competitions. Since their invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia and Belarus\u2019 athletes have either been barred from most major international sporting events or forced to compete under a neutral banner.<\/p>\n Once a controversial opinion, there\u2019s a growing consensus among experts and the general public that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.\u00a0<\/p>\n Some 64 per cent of Canadians polled by Mainstreet Research<\/a> last week said Canada should recognize that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. The poll, published on Sept. 4, also found that 62 per cent of Canadians want their government to support a peacekeeping mission to end the genocide.<\/p>\n Since the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas, the IDF has bombed over 30 hospitals in Gaza, destroyed over 90 per cent of its schools, killed 19,000 children and created a famine that\u2019s starved 376 people to death. There are more child amputees per capita in the Palestinian territory than in any other place on earth, according to UNICEF<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Despite this, neither Prime Minister Mark Carney nor Mayor Plante are willing to use the word \u201cgenocide.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Screenshot-2025-09-11-at-3.44.17-PM-1024x549.png\")
Benjamin Netenyahu (left) appears in a promotional video alongside Israel-Premier Tech owner Sylvan Adams. (Source: Facebook)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Screenshot-2025-09-11-at-3.44.24-PM-1024x577.png\")
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