After destroying Paralympic HQ and stadium in Gaza, Israel must not host UEFA tournaments

Amid the widespread destruction and horror of Israel’s slaughter of 162 persons – the vast majority unarmed civilians – in Gaza between 14-22 November, the news that it also destroyed the headquarters of Palestine’s National Paralympic Committee and other sports infrastructure in Gaza has almost gone unnoticed.

On 21 November, the official website of the International Paralympic Committee reported this news:

On Monday morning (19 November), the office of the Palestinian Paralympic Committee in Gaza was exposed to heavy shelling that destroyed the building and infrastructure of the nation’s Paralympic headquarters.

The Palestine Stadium and accessible Palestine Sports building were fully destructed. The sports facilities were both used by athletes who trained for the London 2012 Paralympic Games and athletes with an impairment who live close to the Gaza strip.

An Israeli army spokeswoman claimed via Twitter, without providing any evidence to substantiate her statement, that rockets were fired from the stadium three days before Israel bombed it. If true, Israel’s attack would not have been defensive by any definition, but a punitive revenge attack. However, Israel made no such claim to attempt to justify the destruction of the Paralympics HQ, and Israel has systematically targeted other civilian infrastructure. more

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