ALGIERS (MEMO) – Algerian lawyers announced a boycott of a football match for lawyers that kicked off on Saturday in Morocco, due to the Zionist regime’s participation.
This came in a statement issued by the Algiers Lawyers Organization team, which was invited to participate in the competition.
The statement read, “The team decided to boycott the football tournament for lawyers (in Morocco), not to participate in it, and to refrain from entering Moroccan territory. The team decided to return from Tunisia, where it was on its way to participate.”
The statement explained that the decision came “after officially confirming the participation of teams from Israel in the competition that will be held in an Arab country.”
It added the move constitutes a step towards normalization with the Zionist regime, “which goes against the principles of the Algerian government and people who reject any form of normalization and who show solidarity with the Palestinian people and their just cause.”
The Moroccan city of Marrakesh is scheduled to host the 20th football championship for lawyers from Saturday until 15 May, with the participation of Zionist teams.
Algeria is one of the Arab and Muslim countries that does not have diplomatic or trade relations with the occupying regime. Its authorities say that normalizing relations is not possible without establishing a Palestinian state with Al-Quds as its capital.
Algerian organizations and athletes have previously boycotted international meetings and competitions because of participants representing the Zionist regime.
The development came days after a Kuwaiti chess player refused to play against a Zionist opponent at Spain’s Sunway International Chess Championship, in an act of solidarity with the Palestinian people and a fresh blow to the occupying regime’s status in the world.
Fide Master Bader al-Hajri, one of Kuwait’s chess champions who had secured first place in “San Sebastian” championship in Spain in 2015, withdrew from the competitions as he rejected to face a Zionist player.
On social media, Arab activists lauded al-Hajri as a champion of “rejecting Arab countries’ normalization” with the occupying regime by refusing to face “an Israeli settler.”
The activist said they are “proud of him” while noting that the Israelis must be “mad at him.”
This is not the first time a Kuwaiti player refuses to face a Zionist opponent.
Last month, Kuwaiti fencer Mohamed al-Fadli withdrew from the World Fencing Championships held in the United Arab Emirates to avoid facing a Zionist opponent.
Fadli also withdrew from an international tournament in the Dutch capital, Amsterdam, in September 2019, after the draw placed him in a group competing with a Zionist player.
In January, teenage Kuwaiti tennis player Muhammad al-Awadi earned widespread praise for his support for the Palestinian cause after he withdrew from an international tennis tournament held in the UAE to avoid facing a Zionist opponent.
Throughout the years, similar measures have been taken by scores of players from Muslim-majority countries, including Iran, Sudan, Libya, Algeria, and Lebanon.