Action alert on Arsenal's Israel promo

Just Peace carries an action alert to protest at the Israeli tourism industry's sponsorhip of Israel.

ACTION ALERT: Arsenal Football Club supporting Israeli Apartheid
March 2006

Arsenal Football Club has just signed a sponsorship deal to promote Israel as a tourist destination from next season. The £350,000 agreement makes Israel Arsenal's "official and exclusive travel destination."

Below are just some of the benefits Israel will receive from this deal:

Israel will be featured on digital perimeter boards and 450 high-definition LCD screens at the stadium on game days;

- Israel will feature on the team's website, Arsenal.com; and in its magazine.

- The televised ads will reach audiences in an estimated 198 countries.

- The Israeli Tourism Ministry will receive intellectual property rights, the use of the team logo and the right to use photos of the team and its players in ads.

The Israeli Tourism Minister will be allowed use the stadium banqueting hall twice a year and organize an exhibition at the end of the playing season

The stadium will hold permanent sale tables for Israel t-shirts

The financial advisers Ernst & Young were employed to draft this proposal with the aim of bringing an extra 2 million tourists to Israel annually.

Arsenal FC and individual players have been in the forefront of the 'Kick Racism Out of Football Campaign'. For Arsenal to sign a deal to promote Israel which denies Palestinians human rights and is illegally occupying Palestinian territory is to go against the very principles of anti-racism.

This campaign is supported by the Islamic Human Rights Commission, Palestinian Return Centre, Innovative Minds, the British Muslim Initiative, the Muslim Association of Britain, the Palestinian Forum in Britain, Palestine Solidarity Campaign and the Scottish-Palestinian Solidarity Campaign.

Suggested Action

All campaigners are urged to:

a) Contact Arsenal Football Club reminding them that Israel is a racist apartheid state which is consistently in breach of international law in its human rights abuses; and that such a deal endangers Arsenal's anti-racist reputation:

Commercial and Marketing Department
Arsenal Football Club
Arsenal Stadium
Avenell Road
Highbury
London N5 1BU

Email: marketing@arsenal.co.uk
Tel. 020 7704 4170
Fax. 020 7704 4171

b) Write to the players at the same address. Many of them have actively
supported Kick Racism Out of Football.

c) Contact the Football Association's Kick Racism out of Football Campaign
reminding them that Israel is a racist apartheid state which is
consistently in breach of international law in its human rights abuses; and
that such a deal endangers the FAs anti-racist reputation and the Kick it
Out campaign itself. Ask the FA to use its influence to prevent the deal
going ahead:

Kick It Out
PO Box 29544
London
EC2A 4WR

T: 020 7684 4884
F: 020 7684 4885
Email: info@kickitout.org

More info on www.palestinecampaign.org