In its latest campaign, the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel on Saturday organised a global campaign to call on Puma to boycott Israel.
“Puma is the main sponsor of the Israel Football Association, which includes teams in illegal Israeli settlements pushing Palestinian families off their land”, the PCABI said in a statement.
“Puma continues to claim a ‘devotion to universal equality’ and talks about the values of the ‘Puma Family'”, the group added, urging the contradiction of supporting a football association that marginalises Palestinians.
This is the third time Palestinians called for a day of action to raise awareness for Puma’s complicity in enabling the illegal Israeli occupation.
The movement called for days of action in June and again in September.
The Boycott Divestment Sanctions committee, comprised of over 170 Palestinian civil society organisations, unions, and cultural and rights groups – including all major political parties, trade and academic unions – issued its official call for boycott in 2005.
The nonviolent BDS movement says it is inspired by the campaign that targeted South Africa’s apartheid regime and is seeking to put an end to Israel’s brutal occupation of the West Bank.
Israel sees the movement as a strategic threat and accuses it of anti-Semitism – a claim activists firmly deny, calling it an attempt to discredit them.
But BDS, which adheres to peaceful resistance, aims to pressure Israel to adhere to international law and human rights by lobbying various states, institutions and personas to understand its oppression of Palestinians and take action as a result.
The peaceful movement operates by pressuring corporations, artists and academic institutions to sever ties with Israel with supporters saying activities are aimed at promoting a Palestinian statehood.
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