The 23-month war in Gaza, which started with Hamas\u2019s murder of 1,200 and kidnapping of 251 during the October 7, 2023, terror onslaught in southern Israel, had already enraged many Spaniards, including the outspoken left-wing government.<\/p>\n
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A police officer enforces security measures amid pro-Palestinian protests during the 20th stage of the Vuelta a Espana 2025, near Navacerrada, Spain, September 13, 2025. (Oscar del Pozo \/ AFP)<\/p>\n
The protests on the sidelines of the Vuelta have earned the government\u2019s tacit endorsement and catalyzed nudging it toward staking out one of the strongest positions against Israel of any European nation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe protests were born from the idea that our only chance to defend human rights regarding Israel is the Spanish Vuelta,\u201d Rosana Prieto, 48, told The Associated Press by phone. \u201cIt is an international spotlight for us to say that we are against what Israel is doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Israel has defended its military actions in Gaza and\u00a0accused Spain\u00a0of standing with Hamas.<\/p>\n
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 64,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed over 22,000 combatants in battle as of August and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught.<\/p>\n
Spain pressures for Israeli team\u2019s exclusion<\/p>\n
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez joined Ireland and Norway in recognizing a Palestinian state last year, and Spain became the first European country to ask a UN court for permission to join South Africa\u2019s case accusing Israel of genocide.<\/p>\n
The Vuelta protesters argue that if\u00a0Russian teams have been banned\u00a0from international sporting events for the war in Ukraine, then Israeli teams should likewise be punished.<\/p>\n
Spain\u2019s\u00a0government agrees.<\/p>\n
Foreign Minister Jos\u00e9 Manuel Albares said he would support<\/a> the Israeli-owned team\u2019s expulsion from the race, while government spokesperson Pilar Alegr\u00eda, who is also minister of sports and education, said neutrality is no longer possible in the face of the death and destruction in Gaza.<\/p>\n \t Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announcing several measures including an arms embargo on Israel, September 8, 2025. (Borja Puig de la Bellacasa \/ LA MONCLOA \/ AFP)<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we are seeing at the protests, in my opinion, is logical,\u201d Alegr\u00eda told Cadena Ser radio on September 11. \u201cSports cannot be isolated from the world that surrounds them.\u201d<\/p>\n For the Vuelta\u2019s security detail, it was logistically impossible to lock down the entire route through its twisting roads, much of which is lined by forest. Large groups have gathered in towns and protesters have jumped out of cover to block the path of riders, causing two athletes to crash, although it\u2019s unclear if that was the protesters\u2019 intention.<\/p>\n Neither of the riders who crashed was on the Israeli team. The cyclists participating in the race voted Wednesday that they would quit\u00a0if their safety was again put at risk.<\/p>\n The team under fire, Israel-Premier Tech \u2014 which only has one Israeli rider at the Vuelta \u2014 issued a statement saying that quitting the race is out of the question, as it would \u201cset a dangerous precedent.\u201d<\/p>\n But Israel-Premier Tech has been endeavoring to keep a low profile. Riders have avoided speaking to the media and it took the step mid-race of removing its team name from its riding uniforms.<\/p>\n The team is owned by Israeli-Canadian businessman Sylvan Adams, who emigrated to Israel in 2016, and has played a key role in promoting Israel via sports. He helped arrange Israel\u2019s hosting of the start of Giro d\u2019Italia, cycling\u2019s third Grand Tour race, in 2018.<\/p>\n \u201cGreat job to Sylvan and Israel\u2019s cycling team for not giving in to hate and intimidation,\u201d Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted to social media platform X on September 5. \u201cYou make Israel proud!\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018A little scared\u2019<\/p>\n There have been occasional confrontations between police, security personnel, and protesters. Prieto said that she needed medical treatment for abrasions and knocks after a police officer dragged her across the ground. She said she and her cohorts behaved peacefully, and is waiting to see whether she faces charges.<\/p>\n Cycling teams have decried some protester actions. Joxean Fern\u00e1ndez Matxin, the team boss of UAE Emirates, said that some of them hit riders with flag poles and tossed tacks in their path.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone has a right to protest, but it\u2019s a shame that it has to happen here and in this way and that we can\u2019t finish the race,\u201d race leader Jonas Vingegaard, a two-time Tour de France winner, said after Wednesday\u2019s stage finish was shortened.<\/p>\n \t 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 Reigning Tour champion Tadej Poga\u010dar skipped the Vuelta. Yet cycling\u2019s biggest star was worried that the protests could spread to other races.<\/p>\n \u201cI think all the riders are a little scared of what could happen,\u201d Poga\u010dar told reporters in Quebec Thursday. \u201cWhen we see what\u2019s going on at the Vuelta, we talk about it and we think it could happen here or in other races between now and the end of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n The next day, a few dozen protesters gathered in the Canadian city of Quebec<\/a> during a one-day race Poga\u010dar participated in.<\/p>\n As the protests disrupted the Vuelta, a fleet of activists\u2019 ships loaded with humanitarian aid\u00a0set sail from Barcelona, aiming to break Israel\u2019s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n Spain\u2019s prime minister chose this week to denounce Israel\u2019s operations in Gaza as \u201cgenocide\u201d as he announced<\/a> an arms embargo and partial import ban over Israel\u2019s wartime conduct in Gaza.<\/p>\n The move inflamed a diplomatic dispute that resulted in the ban of ministers from both countries. Netanyahu on Thursday accused his Spanish counterpart of issuing a \u201cblatant genocidal threat\u201d against Israel after Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez lamented<\/a> not being able to use nuclear weapons against the Jewish state.<\/p>\n If the protests gain strength, they could become a concern for Israel, which has long prided itself on its close relations with the European Union. The European Commission\u2019s president, Ursula von der Leyen, this week called<\/a> for partially suspending trade ties with Israel, and the Netherlands said<\/a> it would boycott the popular Eurovision song contest next year if Israel is allowed to participate, following Spain and Ireland.<\/p>\n For analyst Oriol Bartomeus, professor of political science at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, S\u00e1nchez\u2019s long campaign against Israel\u2019s war with Hamas is both benefiting from and fueling the grassroots protest movement at the cycling race.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is happening at the Vuelta is a symptom of the anger of the left over this issue,\u201d Bartomeus told the AP. \u201cThis is poised to be a major point of cohesion of Spanish society. S\u00e1nchez is not stupid, and he has gotten right in there.\u201d<\/p>\n Protesters aim to take action again on Sunday, when the race concludes in Madrid. Authorities will deploy 1,500 police for the final stage, adding to the 130 officers already traveling with the race.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Saturday\u2019s stage of the 2025 Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a, which has seen numerous disruptions caused by anti-Israel demonstrators, did…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135459,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-135458","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\/135458","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=135458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AFP__20250908__73QH9KF__v2__HighRes__SpainIsraelDiplomacySanchez-640x400.jpg\")
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