The opening day of the Canada and Israel tie went without any spectators but featured around 400 protestors, who gathered outside the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax to voice their frustration with Israel being allowed to take part in the Davis Cup.
At the start of the week, Tennis Canada announced their decision to ban the public from attending this weekend's Davis Cup tie due to safety concerns. And on Friday, the home side went 2-0 after Gabriel Diallo beat Daniel Cukierman while Liam Draxl overcame Orel Kimhi. It was quite quiet throughout both matches and home player Diallo even admitted he needed some time to adjust to the odd conditions.
But outside of the arena, a lot was happening as pro-Palestine supporters came to voice their unhappiness with the tennis event in Halifax. They unveiled a large tennis net, which had "Dont Play Ball" written on it.
ADVERTISEMENT
Reactions to the protests
Windsor's Andrew Glencross, who held a sign that read, "Don't let tennis hide a genocide," told SaltWire: There are lots of people unhappy about this. This is not just some fringe extremist group... This is a classic example of what they call sports washing, where a state or a corporation tries to make their reputation look better through supporting sports, which are supposedly politically neutral."
Meanwhile, Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs CEO Noah Shack said: This should be a wakeup call for all of us just how the extremism in our streets is impacting Canadian life and it needs to be addressed."
