Settler Colonialism–Genocide–Athleticide: The Destruction
of Sport in Occupied Palestine
Derek Silva,1 Nathan Kalman-Lamb,2 Chen Chen,3 Kristi Allain,4 Jason Laurendeau,5 Janelle Joseph,6
Daniel Sailofsky,7 Shrehan Lynch,8 Anthony Weems,9 Leyla Hamed,10 Priyansh,7 Adam Ali,11
Roc Rochon,12 Zuleikha Chikh,13 Charlotte Phillips,14 Jules Boykoff,12 R. Taha,7 Jess Nachman,14
Zeana Hamdonah,7 Thomas Ross Griffin,15 Anima Adjepong,16 and Jeffrey Montez de Oca17
1 King’s University College, Western University, London, ON, Canada; 2 University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB, Canada; 3
University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT,
USA; 4
St. Thomas University, Fredericton, NB, USA; 5 University of Lethbridge, Calgary, AB, Canada; 6
Brock University, St Catharines, ON, Canada;
7
University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; 8 University of East London, London, United Kingdom; 9 Coastal Carolina University, Conway, SC, USA;
10
Independent Journalist, Madrid, Spain; 11
Western University, London, ON, Canada; 12 Pacific University, Forest Grove, OR, USA; 13
Loughborough University,
Loughborough, United Kingdom; 14 York University, Toronto, ON, Canada; 15 Qatar University, Doha, Qatar; 16
University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA;
17
University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, CO, USA
In this paper, our scholarly collective traces how athleticide—defined here as the obliteration of sport, sporting cultures, and
athletics through the killing, arrest, detention, or disabling of athletes, coaches, staff, officials, and administrators and the
destruction of athletic infrastructure and history—has been part of the US–NATO-funded Israeli state’s genocide of Palestinians
in Gaza since October 2023. Although much of the literature focuses on the philosophical, ethical, and political foundations of
events that are conventionally described as “genocide,” little scholarly attention has been paid to genocide in the disparate fields
that make up sports studies. Even less attention has been paid t…
No Israeli appearance in global sport can be understood outside the context of the athleticide it has committed in Gaza—and not been held accountable for.
journals.humankinetics.com/view/journal...
![Examining the bodies returned to their people after the most recent so-called ceasefire, Palestinian doctors noted that, in some bodies “the rib cage and ribs were clipped with a sharp saw—a medical saw, a bone saw—and the sternum, along with the central part of the ribs, [were] lifted to allow for the removal of the heart and lungs without damage to the organ being taken.” Organ procurement, with few exceptions like skin and cornea, requires that the body be either alive—via brain death—or just-dead—via circulatory death. It is plausible that some Palestinian prisoners’ torture led to brain death. It is also possible their torturers felt no need to wait. Palestinian witnesses have reported that some prisoners were alive at the time they were taken for organ extraction. In one batch of bodies, the organs removed were those commonly transplanted: heart, liver, lungs. The transplant surgeon waits for a person to die; the soldier can’t. The settler surgeon wields his mastery over the body to serve the state. Here, the surgeon acts as—is—a soldier.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:tgw3d4hvw3x5ijrxax7lg26u/bafkreiesvmsm3hrmrwxi7d7wvuaxc7u7oovqonpx2tdpxdnjhlgxh7lhni)
