By Giancarlo Cininni
Councillor Virginia Hinch was one of six councillors to vote against giving $50,000 of the city’s marketing money to a tennis match between Canada and Israel. The match is part of the Davis Cup and will happen in Halifax on Sept 12 and 13. “I believe that we shouldn’t be supporting Israel at this point in time because of the genocide,” Hinch said. “Something has to be done, and we have to make a stand.” Hinch says that regardless of the municipality’s decision on whether or not to fund the Davis Cup, the event would still go ahead. (The bid to host a Davis Cup match was made by Discover Halifax months ago, prior to the learning that Canada’s opponent for the match would be Israel.) She says it’s up to the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and Tennis Canada to ban Israel from playing.
History shows there is little consistency when it comes to sports boycotts. For example, during apartheid, some organizations enforced Davis Cup boycotts while others did not.
South Africa was banned from the Davis Cup in 1970 by the ITF, which has been a talking point of protesters. However, the ITF allowed the country back in 1973, awarding South Africa a victory after the Indian national team refused to travel to South Africa. After 1973, it was only countries themselves that refused to play South Africa, rather than any bans imposed by the ITF.
Closer to home, in 2022, Tennis Canada permitted Russian and Belarusian players to compete at the National Bank Open, but required them to play under a neutral flag, and not under the Russian or Belarusian flag. Tennis Canada also made a statement announcing solidarity with Ukraine.
But when it comes to Palestine, there has been no such solidarity, despite an ongoing famine, credible accusations of genocide, and the killing of at least 662 athletes and their relatives, according to the Palestinian football association.
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