{"id":120777,"date":"2025-09-07T12:49:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T12:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/120777\/"},"modified":"2025-09-07T12:49:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T12:49:09","slug":"israeli-cycling-team-removes-countrys-name-from-jerseys-amid-protests-in-spain-middle-east-monitor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/120777\/","title":{"rendered":"Israeli cycling team removes country\u2019s name from jerseys amid protests in Spain \u2013 Middle East Monitor"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Israel-Premier Tech team announced Saturday that it has removed the word Israel from its jerseys for the remainder of the Spanish bicycle race La Vuelta, citing safety concerns after repeated pro-Palestine protests disrupted the competition, Anadolu reports.<\/p>\n<p>On social media, the team said the decision was made \u201cin the interest of prioritizing the safety of our riders and the entire peloton, in light of the dangerous nature of some protests.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The move follows days of tension at the Spanish cycling competition.<\/p>\n<p>Demonstrations against the team\u2019s participation forced Wednesday\u2019s stage in Bilbao to end 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) early. On Friday, Spanish police used batons to clear protesters from the road in Asturias, delaying the leaders by about 30 seconds.<\/p>\n<p>The team added that the uniforms now match its vehicles and casual clothing, which also avoid using the word Israel.<\/p>\n<p>In a Friday interview with Israeli publication Sport 5, Sylvan Adams, the Canadian-Israeli billionaire co-owner of the team and a close ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, dismissed the protesters in Spain\u2019s Basque Country as terrorists.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">READ:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.middleeastmonitor.com\/20250903-protests-against-israeli-team-intensify-at-spains-la-vuelta-cycling-race\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Protests against Israeli team intensify at Spain\u2019s La Vuelta cycling race<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Amaury Sport Organization, which runs La Vuelta, reportedly asked Israel-Premier Tech to consider bowing out of the race, but Adams said he refused. \u201cIf we give up, it\u2019s not just the end of our team, but of all the other teams,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Netanyahu also weighed in Friday, with his office posting on US social media company X: \u201cGreat job to Sylvan and Israel\u2019s cycling team for not giving in to hate and intimidation. You make Israel proud!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But Jose Manuel Albares, Spain\u2019s foreign minister, said he believed the Israeli team should be expelled from the competition and voiced full support for the protests.<\/p>\n<p>On Saturday, the race continued through the northwestern region of Asturias with Palestinian flags and signs condemning the war dotting the route, though it was not disrupted.<\/p>\n<p>La Vuelta will continue across Spain and is set to finish in Madrid on Sept. 14, where large pro-Palestine demonstrations have already taken place.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile on Saturday, streets across Gaza City filled with families fleeing south, after Israel warned of expanded ground operations and struck residential towers.<\/p>\n<p>Nearly 64,400 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, which faces famine and a deepening humanitarian crisis.<\/p>\n<p>Sports authorities have been accused of hypocrisy in allowing Israel to continue in international competitions although they banned Russia soon after the start of the Ukraine war.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">READ:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.middleeastmonitor.com\/20250906-global-day-of-action-over-300000-march-in-london-to-demand-justice-for-gaza\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Global Day of Action: Over 300,000 march in London to demand justice for Gaza<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Israel-Premier Tech team announced Saturday that it has removed the word Israel from its jerseys for the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":120778,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-120777","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}