Calls grow to shut down Halifax tennis match between Israel and Canada

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.

Athletes and scholars, among countless others, have stood up against this. On August 18, a group of 411 Canadian and Canadian-based scholars, athletes, sports journalists, and sports officials sent a public letter calling on Tennis Canada to cancel the Davis Cup tournament with Israel this September in Halifax.

Across Canada and around the globe, people are speaking out and taking action: “No normal sports with an apartheid state engaged in genocide.” Halifax now has the opportunity to join them — to refuse to be complicit, to reject the moral bankruptcy of valuing economic profit over human life, to send a clear message that our city will not be used to legitimize crimes against humanity.

We call on Halifax Regional Municipality Council to reject this event.

Let Halifax show that it will not stand with genocide.

Let us show we stand on the right side of history.

Let us act decisively and unapologetically in defense of peace, freedom, and justice.

We call on all people to stand against genocide by showing on up on September 12 and 13 to the demonstrations against this attempt at sportswashing.

Asaf Rashid is a Halifax-based lawyer and a member of the Halifax Committee Against Imperialist War & Genocide.