OVERVIEW
Sportswear brand Reebok is complicit in Israel's grave crimes against Palestinians. Reebok is the main sponsor of the Israel Football Association (IFA), which includes teams in Israel’s illegal settlements on occupied Palestinian land.
Israel’s military occupation expels Palestinian families, including children, from their homes to give way for these settlements. The International Court of Justice has ruled that Israel’s entire occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is illegal and violates the prohibition against apartheid. Israeli's settlement enterprise constitutes a war crime under international law. Apartheid is a crime against humanity.
Reebok claims its mission is to mission to create products that boldly inspire human movement for all, yet it sponsors the apartheid the IFA helps sustain, including denying Palestinians the right to freedom of movement.
At the beginning of 2025 Reebok signed a two-year contract with the IFA after Italian sportswear company Erreà withdrew from a similar contract following boycott calls, without ever having sent jerseys to the IFA! Erreà was to replace PUMA, which did not renew its contract with the IFA following a 5-year global boycott campaign. In July 2018 it was announced that Adidas was no longer sponsoring the IFA following an international campaign led by Palestinian sports teams and the delivery of over 16,000 signatures to Adidas headquarters.
We can do this again. Join the campaign to #BoycottReebok until it ends its complicity in Israel’s illegal land grabs and apartheid regime.
Why Boycott Reebok?
As a major global athletic apparel maker and the main international sponsor of the Israel Football Association, Reebok’s sponsorship brings international legitimacy to the IFA’s actions. The IFA, as documented by FairSquare and others, includes football clubs based in illegal Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land.
Israeli settlements are illegal land grabs that form an integral part of Israel’s occupation infrastructure pushing indigenous Palestinian families off their land, robbing Palestinians of natural resources and denying Palestinians their right of movement.
The IFA has refused to take measures to end its complicity, despite being repeatedly condemned by UN advisors, dozens of elected officials, civil society and human rights groups representing millions and public figures.
Reebok must immediately withdraw from its contract with the IFA in order to avoid being complicit in Israel’s war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. Should Reebok go forward with this criminal and unethical sponsorship, it will face an international boycott campaign just as Erreà, PUMA and Adidas before it.
Israeli settlements are illegal land grabs
The Israel Football Association includes six Israeli football clubs located in Israel’s illegal settlements built on Palestinian land occupied by the Israeli military. Israel’s settlements contribute to serious human rights abuses and are a direct cause for restrictions on Palestinian freedom of movement, access to natural resources and ability to build homes and conduct business.
Together with Israel’s illegal wall, military checkpoints and Jewish-only roads, the settlements form part Israel’s occupation and apartheid infrastructure that systematically obstruct every aspect of Palestinian life, including the practice of sports.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled that Israel is plausibly committing genocide in Gaza and that Israel’s military occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is illegal and violates the prohibition against apartheid. Both rulings from the World Court carry with them obligations not to contribute in any way to the atrocity crimes Israel is committing.
Sporticide - Israel’s attacks on Palestinian sports
Israel has bombed and destroyed Palestinian stadiums and sports structures and routinely denied freedom of movement to Palestinian athletes. It has imprisoned and shot Palestinian athletes, and killed Palestinian children playing football, more than once. Palestinian athletes are regularly prevented from training and participating in competitions, at home and abroad.
As part of Israel genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza, Israel is also committing sporticide. As of January 2025, Israel has killed at least 715 Palestinian athletes and footballers and destroyed or damaged all Palestinian sports facilities in Gaza, including stadiums, gyms and club facilities, some of which were used as detention and torture camps.
In 2018, Israeli snipers ended the careers of dozens of Palestinian athletes in Gaza, firing on peaceful protesters participating in demonstrations for an end to Israel’s siege and their UN-sanctioned right of return. A UN Commission of Inquiry found that Israeli soldiers intentionally targeted Palestinians participating in the demonstrations, actions amounting to war crimes.
The IFA has lobbied FIFA continuously against accountability for Israel’s assault on Palestinian sports working hand-in-hand with the Israeli government to block Palestinian accountability measures. The IFA is complicit in Israel’s crimes against Palestinian sport.
