Protesters arrived at Bells Beach to show their support for Palestine. Photo: Surfers for Palestine//Instagram
According to reports, a group of pro-Palestine protesters arrived at Bells Beach, Australia, on Saturday to demonstrate against Anat Lelior’s inclusion to the event under the Israeli flag. Anat was born in Tel Aviv, and like all Israeli citizens over the age of 18 who are Jewish, Druze, or Circassian, she served in the Israel Defense Forces for two years.
“Palestinian surfers and ocean lovers have been killed over the past 30 months, with many Palestinians being shot at and even killed at the beach in Gaza,” Surfers for Palestine wrote. “It’s time to make sure you aren’t on the wrong side of history and ban the Israeli flag from being flown at the event.”
Lelior represented Israel under her country’s flag in both the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Olympics. But last year, at a WSL Qualifying Series event in Morocco, Pro Taghazout Bay, the Israeli flag was absent from both her jersey and on the WSL’s website. Instead, she was classified simply as “world.”
Lelior is the first Israeli surfer to qualify for the Championship tour. Considering the current geopolitical state that we find ourselves in, it’s not a huge surprise that pro-Palestinian protesters arrived on the cliffs looking over Bells to make their opinions known. The protest was organized by an Australian organization called Surfers For Palestine.
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“While Israeli surfer Anat Lelior competes at Bells Beach, Palestinian access to the sea is being denied,” the organization wrote in a statement released last week. “While the Israeli flag is flown at Bells Beach, Israel continues its campaign of genocide in Gaza and its illegal invasion of Lebanon.”
It should be noted here that Surfers for Palestine doesn’t appear to want Lelior to be banned from competing. Instead, it calls for Israeli athletes to compete under a neutral flag.
“A nation guilty of genocide and war crimes has no place at a WSL event,” the group said. “Just as Russian athletes compete under a neutral flag at the Australian Open, we call on Israeli athletes to compete as neutral athletes, without their flag and the name of their country.”
This isn’t the first time surfing has dealt with similar issues. In 1985, Tom Curren, Martin Potter, Cheyne Horan, and Tom Carroll made their stance known when they boycotted the only South African events on the tour at the time because of apartheid.
“WSL, you can’t hide,” Surfers for Palestine wrote in an Instagram post sharing images of the protesters. “You are platforming genocide.”
