#BoycottPuma

Calling PUMA to stop sponsoring Israel Football Association (IFA)

PUMA sponsors Israel Football Associations (IFA) which has football clubs in illegal Israeli settlements – on land stolen from Palestinians.

Take Action

Write to the CEO of PUMA, Bjørn Gulden

Write to the CEO of PUMA, Bjørn Gulden, urging him to remove PUMA as a sponsor of the Israel Football Association (IFA).

Edit the suggested letter below before sending.

Dear Bjørn Gulden,

As a customer of PUMA, I am writing to express my concern of PUMA’s role in the illegal occupation of Palestine.

Currently PUMA sponsors  the Israel Football Association (IFA), which manages several football clubs in Israeli settlements. Israeli settlements are built on stolen Palestinian land and are illegal under international law. As a sponsor of IFA PUMA is complicit in supporting illegal Israeli settlements and violating international law.

The United Nations and several Human Rights groups have deemed the Israeli settlements as illegal and a violation of international law. These settlements have a profound impact on Palestinian civilians. Since the settlements began over 50 years ago, Israel has demolished the homes of 27,000 Palestinians, making hundreds of thousands of Palestinians homeless and a displaced people to make way for Israeli communities. These illegal Israeli settlements and forcible displacement of Palestinians are a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention and are considered a war crime.

As the CEO of PUMA, we request you uphold PUMA’s Code of Ethics which states objectives of complying with national and international trade laws. We hope PUMA’s code of ethics extends to international law.

Further, PUMA’s sustainability objectives includes “embedding Human Rights across our operations and suppliers, and positively impacting the communities where PUMA is present.” As the main international sponsor for the IFA, PUMA is present in the illegal settlements which, violates Palestinian Human Rights and thus contradicting PUMA’s Human Rights objective.

I would like to strongly urge you to discontinue PUMA’s sponsorship of the IFA which has football clubs on illegal Israeli settlements. It is clear that by sponsoring the IFA, PUMA is supporting the illegal settlements and the violating both international law and Human Rights. I hope under your leadership PUMA upholds international law and supports human rights.

Thank you

Bjørn Gulden

Story

Calling PUMA to stop sponsoring Israel Football Association (IFA)

Puma is the main sponsor of the Israel Football Association (IFA), which has several football teams in illegal Israeli settlements. Just as the Football Association (FA) is the governing body for football in England, the IFA is the governing body for football in Israel.

Six teams that belong to IFA are located in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Settlements are built up Israeli communities on stolen Palestinian land. Pre-existing Palestinian communities are forcibly removed from their homes and deprived of access to their land.

The United Nations and several Human Rights groups have deemed Israeli settlements as illegal and a violation of international law.

By sponsoring the IFA, PUMA is supporting illegal Israeli settlements which  violate Palestinian rights and  international law.

More than 200 Palestinian sports clubs have called on PUMA to stop supporting the IFA & violating international law. In 2018, Adidas announced it would no longer sponsor the IFA after receiving 16,000 signatures.

Let’s do this again and stop PUMA from supporting Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine!

This image shows Israel's Home, Away and Goalkeeper football kits (with PUMA as their sponsor).

This image shows Israel’s Home, Away and Goalkeeper football kits (with PUMA as their sponsor).

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FAQ

What is the Israeli Football Association (IFA)?

The Israel Football Association (IFA) is the governing body for football in Israel (similarly to the FA in England). So this means the IFA organise a variety of association football leagues, Israel State cup and the Israel National football team within Israel.

What are Israeli settlements?

Settlements are built up Israeli communities on stolen Palestinian land. These pre-existing Palestinian communities are forcibly removed from their homes and deprived of access to their land.

Settlements are in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and in the Golan Heights. Israel started building settlements in 1967, after it illegally occupied Gaza and the West Bank.

Why are settlements illegal?

The United Nations General Assembly, the United Nations Security Council and the International Court of Justice have all said that Israeli settlements on the West Bank violate the Fourth Geneva Convention.

The Fourth Geneva Convention says that an occupying power “shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” Israel has been doing exactly that, since occupying the West Bank in 1967.

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