Jordanian BDS organizes basketball tourney calling to boycott Israeli sportsmen

The Jordanian BDS movement was set to conduct on Thursday a local basketball tournament aimed at encouraging Jordanian sportsmen to boycott Israeli rivals. The tournament, called "The Land Cup," is conducted in commemoration of Palestinian Land Day that was marked on Wednesday.The tournament was scheduled to take place at the Applied Science Private University in Amman, where a Jordanian all-star team will face the university's basketball team."Some people think that boycotting Israeli sportsmen may annoy all the citizens of the Zionist entity, thereby making them feel they are internationally rejected, "the Jordanian BDS movement wrote in a post on its Facebook page."We organize a basketball competition in commemoration of Land Day to explain to Jordanian sportsmen the importance of supporting the boycott and refusing to participate in sports competitions that promote peace and normalization of relations with Israel," the post read.In the placards promoting the event on Facebook, a basketball player is seen standing on the court, wearing a shirt with the BDS logo and the hashtag: "Jordan boycotts."The discourse around boycotting sports competitions with Israeli participation has recently been increasing in the Arab world. In the beginning of March, the Egyptian sports minister announced that Egypt will have to host the Israeli national basketball team in an international tournament, rejecting popular calls to boycott the Israeli team.