Moviment Graffiti wants Malta to boycott rugby match against Israel

Moviment Graffiti has called on the European rugby union to cut its ties with the Israeli national rugby team as it is set to play against its Maltese counterparts.

“By keeping Israel within its ranks, Rugby Europe is contravening its own code of ethics and principles that are based on respect for human rights and dignity,” the NGO said in a statement. “National rugby teams are threatened with a debilitating fine if they refuse to play games with the Israeli national team.”

This call comes after Israel's resumption of its full-scale operations in Gaza, where over 400 people were murdered in just a few hours, with many more grievously injured or trapped under rubble, still to be found.

The match is set to happen on the 5 April at the Tony Bezzina Stadium.

Moviment Graffiti said that they, alongside, Ġustizzja għall-Palestina, Watermelon Warriors, Lebanese Advocates and Youth for Palestine have identified the game as an “opportunity to push back against any form of complicity in Israeli apartheid.”

Many organisations have called for a complete boycott of Israeli institutions, including the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement alongside the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI).

They highlighted that, in the same way that the apartheid regime in South Africa came to an end following international boycotts and sanctions, “we need to put pressure on the genocidal state of Israel by means of sanctions against all those that are accomplices in its actions.”

Graffiti stated this makes Rugby Europe a complicit partner in Israel's sports washing campaign and genocide, highlighting that this violates the 2024 ICJ ruling and various UN resolutions that have passed since the beginning of the genocide in 2023.

“Rugby and other team sports gather people from all walks of life to celebrate and support the joy of the game,” they said.

Moviment Graffiti also pointed out that the Israeli Occupation Force has “deliberately targeted young, Palestinian sportspeople falsely imprisoning them, disabling them or even executing them extrajudicially.”

“We must completely sever ties with the axis of genocide of our age, spearheaded by Israel and completely supported by the United States of America and several European countries,” they concluded.