Eduardo González
The Sumar Plurinational Parliamentary Group, a minority partner in Pedro Sánchez’s coalition Executive, has asked the Government for explanations for an action by the National Police, during a basketball match between Lenovo Tenerife and Hapoel of Jerusalem, against several people who were carrying from the stands a flag of Palestine, “recognized by the UN itself.”
In a written parliamentary question recorded on March 12, Sumar assured that, according to the information provided by “affected people” and the media, “members of the National Police Corps would have proceeded (…) to identify and report ten people as alleged perpetrators of a hate crime during the basketball match between Lenovo Tenerife and Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem corresponding to the quarterfinals of the Basketball Champions League, held on March 6 at the Santiago Martín Pavilion of Tenerife.”
According to “the public information reflected,” Sumar continues, “the people would have been denounced with proposals for sanctions for, supposedly, distributing leaflets and having a banner in favor of the cause of the Palestinian people and against the genocide that is being committed against the population. Palestine”.
In the opinion of the formation led by Vice President Yolanda Díaz, “it is, without a doubt, very undemocratic to restrict freedom of opinion in public forums when, in addition, only the desire for peace for the Palestinian people is expressed and when it is taking place in a context of genocide against a defenseless civilian population.”
For this reason, Sumar published a series of parliamentary questions – for written response – in which it asks the Government for clarification on the “existence of an ongoing investigation in relation to the complaint for displaying a flag recognized by the Organization of the Nations itself. United Nations (UN), what is the Palestinian flag, in a basketball game” and on whether there has been any intervention in the same game “to remove Israeli flags from the stands.”
Sumar is also interested in the identity of the “person in charge of the device that gave the order to identify and denounce the people who were showing solidarity with the Palestinian population during the basketball game” and about “responsibilities that will be resolved” in relation with these facts.
In its brief response, published on April 18, the Government limits itself to ensuring that, during the basketball game cited by Sumar, “the only flags displayed were those of the Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem team.” Likewise, it indicated that “the identification of the people was carried out by members of the Police Intervention Unit at the request of the Security Coordinator.”
Since the current conflict in the Middle East began, after the Hamas attacks of October 7 and the strong military response of the Israeli Army in the Gaza Strip, the visits of Maccabi of Tel Aviv (the most prestigious team in Israel) to Spain to play Euroleague matches have been marked by instructions from the authorities to prevent the presence of Palestinian flags. This happened at the beginning of April, during Maccabi’s visit to Barcelona to face Barcelona, or in the match played previously in Valencia. However, the authorities could not prevent a large presence of Palestinian flags during the match between the Israeli team and Baskonia, held at the Buesa Arena in Vitoria.
