Tennis Canada has shamelessly announced that the Canada–Israel Davis Cup match, scheduled for September 12 and 13 in Halifax, will bring an estimated $2.2 million into the local economy — effectively calculating the economic gains of supporting genocide and putting a dollar value on each Palestinian life lost in Gaza: macabrely ironic as in 2023 before the onset of the genocide Gaza’s population was estimated at 2.2 million. This obscene calculus reduces the massacre of tens of thousands of civilians — children, women and men — to a business opportunity.
Even more disturbing, measures are now being taken to police and silence those in Halifax who dare to raise their voices against genocide. Rather than uphold the principles of free expression and moral conscience, city officials are aligning themselves with an event that normalizes and legitimizes war crimes. Deputy Mayor Tony Mancini has grotesquely attempted to tie his support for this “tennis for genocide” event to Victoria Mboko’s victory at the National Bank Open and the empowerment of young women — a cynical attempt to mask complicity in mass atrocity under the language of inspiration and equality.
Let us be clear: Gaza remains under relentless bombardment. Hundreds of thousands are dead or injured. Homes, schools, hospitals, and refugee camps lie in ruins – with Gaza having the largest number of child amputees in history. The overwhelming evidence points to war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide unfolding before our very eyes. To host the Israeli tennis team under these circumstances is to stand on the wrong side of history.
This is not just a tennis match. It is a political act — a shameful endorsement of the idea that the mass killing of civilians, the destruction of entire communities, and the violation of international law can be ignored, excused, or even rewarded with a stage for celebration. It is an exercise in sportswashing — laundering the image of genocide and an apartheid state through the spectacle of sport. (more...)
Calls grow to shut down Halifax tennis match between Israel and Canada
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