Spain: The Israeli Flag Looms Over the Climbing World Cup
- Armelle Desmaison
- May 26
- 6 min read
After the Youth European Cup in Brussels, the Madrid World Cup could be next. The issue: the presence of Israel’s national team. In Spain, the protest is part of a broader movement of solidarity with Palestinians. Report from the ground.
To take advantage of the early-May sun, Almu and Álvar have set up a table and chairs on the terrace of the climbing gym. They know the place well, and they know the owners. The crag — the outdoor climbing area — is still where they would rather be, but they regularly train at this bouldering gym, a rope-free climbing facility built around short, powerful problems, tucked into an industrial zone about 30 miles from Madrid.
Behind their sunglasses, it is easy to imagine the warmth in their eyes. But once the conversation turns to the subject at hand, their faces tighten. “We found out yesterday that they had registered for the competition,” Álvar finally says.
The 30-something climber is referring to the registration of seven Israeli athletes — three women and four men — for the Climbing World Cup scheduled for May 28–31 in Alcobendas, just outside Madrid. Yet a petition signed by more than 120 Spanish organizations of all kinds had called for Israeli representatives to be excluded from international competitions, including the World Climbing Series Comunidad de Madrid.
“We really hoped the international federation would act to prevent their presence. That hasn’t happened, so we’ll be there”
Almu and Álvar, members of the Climbers for Palestine Spain collective
The request was supposed to be reviewed last month at the General Assembly of the international federation, but for logistical reasons it was pushed back to the next Climbing Summit. The petition had been launched on April 10 by the Platform for the Sports Boycott of Israel and Climbers for Palestine Spain, the collective Almu and Álvar belong to. “We really hoped the international federation would act to prevent their presence,” the climber says with a sigh. “That hasn’t happened, so we’ll be there.”
On Instagram, the collective is calling on “the public to get their free tickets and stay tuned for the actions that will be organized.” What exactly is planned? The activist will not say. But he offers one detail: “We are not a closed group acting off in our own corner. We will try to propose something collective and open to the public.”
Spain Has More Than One Tour to Draw From
Is the idea to recreate La Vuelta 2025? “That would be impossible,” Álvar says. “But we are in contact with the organizers of that boycott.” La Vuelta, also known as the Tour of Spain, is one of the most popular cycling races in the world. Its 2025 edition was disrupted throughout the route by pro-Palestinian protests opposing the participation of the Israel-Premier Tech team.
In the end, thousands of citizens flooded the course, which was set to finish in downtown Madrid. They forced organizers to stop the race altogether with roughly 30 miles remaining, denying the riders their final sprint.
Almu sees the success of that action as the result of “cycling’s popularity and the access.” As with the Tour de France, the stages stretch across miles of open roads that cannot be tightly controlled and that draw both hardcore cycling fans and casual spectators every year.
The episode made headlines around the world. Yet Spain is not known for a culture of protest in the same way France is. “La Vuelta is, to my knowledge, the first demonstration to have had national and international resonance,” says Raúl Sánchez García, a sociologist of sport and researcher at Rey Juan Carlos University. “Otherwise, at the local level, you do find activist actions, especially in soccer.” In certain parts of the peninsula, including Catalonia, Galicia, and the Basque Country, questions of identity are deeply politicized.
“During the Copa del Rey, the Spanish soccer cup, you regularly hear the anthem being whistled at, or practices like that,” the researcher notes, before pointing out that the first disruptions of La Vuelta began during the stage that crossed Euskadi, the Basque Country.
“In those regions, there is a very strong awareness of the oppression of peoples,” Almu and Álvar say. In their view, that helps explain the sympathy many in Spanish society feel for the Palestinian cause.
“When athletes take a side, they can lose a lot with sponsors. That’s why they don’t stick their necks out”
Raúl Sánchez, sports sociologist
From Lamine Yamal to Pedro Almodóvar
Few athletes with national or international profiles have spoken publicly about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “Top climbers have contacted us privately to buy Climbers for Palestine T-shirts, but none of them share or post anything on social media,” Álvar says. “In paraclimbing, there have been a few public positions,” Almu adds.
On Instagram last spring, Guillermo Pelegrín invited people “to climb for Palestine” during a gathering organized in support of the cause. The para athlete, who regularly reaches World Cup podiums in the B2 category for athletes with moderate visual impairment, says he has to maintain a neutral posture during competitions.
Most international sports federations and institutions enforce a principle of religious and political neutrality. “When athletes take a side, they can lose a lot with sponsors,” Raúl Sánchez says. “That’s why they don’t stick their necks out.” In soccer, a few major figures have taken a position, including French star Karim Benzema, in a tweet published as early as October 2023. On May 11, young Spanish soccer star Lamine Yamal held up a Palestinian flag during FC Barcelona’s title celebration.
Spain’s cultural world seems more willing to speak out on the country’s internal and external conflicts. “Since the beginning of democracy in 1975, I think a protest tradition has taken root in film and theater,” the sociologist says. The globally known filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar is a clear example. The director, whose films were seen as provocative after the end of Franco’s dictatorship, publicly called on his government in the summer of 2025 to cut all ties with the State of Israel.
A few weeks later, Javier Bardem left a mark of his own. The actor appeared at the Emmy Awards wearing a keffiyeh — a Palestinian national symbol — around his neck and ended his speech with “Free Palestine.” More recently, Spain boycotted the Eurovision Song Contest alongside Iceland, Slovenia, Ireland, and the Netherlands.
Sí, Se Puede
The foreign policy pursued by Spain’s left-wing government marks a real break from other European Union member states: an arms embargo, a ban on ships carrying fuel for the Israeli military from entering Spanish ports, and an increase in humanitarian aid for Gaza.
In May 2024, Spain officially recognized the State of Palestine, a step France would take more than a year later. Spain also joined the case brought by South Africa before the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide in the Gaza Strip. More recently, Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez again stood apart by calling for an end to the EU-Israel Association Agreement.
Almu and Álvar would like their government to go further, including by “formalizing the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador from the country.”
Spanish society may have looked like a vanguard on this issue in Europe, but more and more actors in the climbing world are organizing internationally to increase their impact. Climbers for Palestine Spain is now part of that movement. “We are organizing with several collectives around the world,” Álvar explains. “Some are Climbers for Palestine branches, others are connected to the climbing scene, and others are gyms or mountain clubs.”
Last week, a private gym, Le Camp de Base, announced that it would refuse to host an official World Climbing competition in Brussels because of the presence of Israeli athletes. In Alcobendas, a private gym network called Sputnik has already announced that it will refuse to host training for Israeli athletes.
The goal is “to organize demonstrations, boycott actions, and informational events in the same places and on the same dates as climbing competitions,” the members of Climbers for Palestine Spain say. The World Cup may end up marking the next move in a much longer climb.
