Israel is not Russia

Manor Solomon , the only Israeli player in La Liga, didn't leave the Villarreal bench on Saturday. Strangely, because, desired and sought after, he was the team's last signing of the winter transfer window. His signing was finalized at 11:55 p.m. on the last day, five minutes before the closing date. For the club, he was no ordinary player.

He was also good at Real Madrid. While playing for Shakhtar Donetsk, he scored two goals against Real Madrid in the 2020-21 Champions League, one in the first leg and one in the second leg. Perhaps Marcelino wanted to avoid hostile demonstrations from the stands that could affect the team. This has been a constant in this La Liga season with the player on the pitch. He wasn't even called up, at his own request, for last Wednesday's match against Juventus, which coincided with Yom Kippur , the Day of Atonement, the most solemn day in the Jewish calendar.

Tuesday will be October 7th. The Israeli response to what happened on that date in 2023 is reverberating throughout the sport, with calls for the complete banning of the Hebrew state. It all began with the sabotage of the Vuelta a España, due to the presence of the Israel Premier-Tech team.

We tend to be lenient with the wealthy absolutist and theocratic monarchies of the Gulf, which today constitute the ownership, organization, and sponsorship center of world sport. And we are not shocked by advertising slogans like "Visit Rwanda" or "DR Congo, Heart of Africa," countries that are unscrupulous with human rights and freedoms but friendly toward tourism. Nor do we protest much with China . Even more so with Russia, whose exclusion from all competitions is cited as an example by those who advocate the same treatment for Israel.

But Russia and Israel are not the same. Russia, a sovereign country with defined borders and global diplomatic and trade relations, an internationally recognized legal and political entity, invaded, without provocation or threat, another country with the same conditions of sovereignty and global recognition and exchange. It is an aggressor country. Israel, on the other hand, is an attacked country . The IOC, FIFA, the UCI, and other top sports bodies understand this.

Sport was born innocent, clean, idealistic, and neutral. But it was quickly manipulated here and there, in more or less crude or subtle ways, by those who were immediately aware of its sociological importance and, therefore, political repercussions. Morocco , another of those Arab feudal monarchies, wants to take advantage of the 2030 World Cup to exploit it for propaganda purposes.

Amid the enormous expenditures incurred, the construction of a gigantic stadium in Casablanca has caused the discontent to boil over and unleashed the bitterly repressed anger of much of Morocco's youth. The so-called Generation Z, those born between 1995 and 2010, who make up the largest age group in the population, has risen up with the cry of "less World Cups and more hospitals!" And schools.

They do not want to be condemned to go out to sea in flotillas... of small boats.