Basque women’s basketball team Lointek Gernika refuses to play Israeli club

Basque women’s basketball team Lointek Gernika has announced its refusal to play its scheduled Women’s Eurocup game against Israeli club Elitzur Ramla because of Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.

Lointek Gernika: taking a stand

The Basque team beat Greece’s Pas Giannina in the cup on Wednesday by 94-61 (184-118 on aggregate) in the second leg of the Women’s Eurocup, securing a spot in the ’round robin’ stage where it is competing against Hungary’s NKA Universitas Pecs and Portugal’s Sportiva Azoris Hotels – and Elitzur Ramla.

Lointek Gernika president Gerardo Candina told Radio Bilbao that the club is aware that governing body FIBA might punish Lointek for its principled action against the “brutal genocide in the Gaza Strip” but that the club will not be deterred:

Let FIBA act as it has to act. We, for our part, will not play the game… We are absolutely against [the genocide] and I think everyone has to realize this.

Basque town Gernika is the subject of Pablo Picasso’s famous painting Guernica, which depicts the 1937 fascist bombing attack on the town and the horrors it inflicted on the town’s people, including a woman in agony as she holds her dead child in her arms. A year ago, the people of the town stood in heavy rain to form a giant Palestinian flag bodies in solidarity with the Palestinian people against Israel’s genocide:

According to pro-Palestine groups, the refusal is the first of its kind by a European team and will hopefully trigger further refusals as sport’s governing bodies continue to drag their heels on banning Israeli clubs and making Israel the pariah it should be – and as fans of other Spanish basketball clubs are already demanding.

Featured image via the Canary