ISRAEL is using the Giro d’Italia to “sportswash” its reputation while cracking down on Palestinian protesters, Amnesty International charged yesterday. 

Cycling’s second biggest race after the Tour de France, the Giro starts in Jerusalem tomorrow, with two further days of racing in Israel over the weekend before the action resumes in Sicily on Tuesday.

Israeli-Canadian billionaire Sylvan Adams and the Israeli government have spent at least £15 million on bringing the race to Jerusalem — the first time the race has started outside Europe — but the largest sports event Israel has hosted will begin against a backdrop of renewed violence.

Amnesty says the Israeli military has killed 35 Palestinians and injured more than 5,500 others since weekly protests started in the Gaza Strip on March 30.

Amnesty UK director Kate Allen said: “We’re not going to tell the Giro d’Italia organisers where they should and shouldn’t start the race, but the Jerusalem launch inevitably means Israel’s dismal human rights record is going to be in the spotlight.

“The authorities in Jerusalem may have thought that the glitz of Giro d’Italia might have a ‘sportswash’ effect, removing some of the stain of Israel’s human rights record. Instead, it’s likely to bring it back into focus yet again.”

Allen said the race will begin only weeks after the security forces “unleashed excessive, deadly force against Palestinian protesters in Gaza, including children,” and tomorrow’s stage will start next to East Jerusalem, the occupied part of the city where “Palestinians are facing house demolitions, illegal settlement building and a host of restrictions on their movement.”

As a result, Allen urged the riders to be ready to answer questions about the human rights situation and use their influence to make sure protests are not suppressed, Palestinian contractors are treated well and Palestinian spectators are allowed to watch the race.

RCS Sport, the Giro’s owners and organisers, declined to comment on the specifics of the Amnesty statement, saying they were there “to organise a sports event.”

The issue was also not addressed during a press conference attended by Adams, three Israeli government ministers and the Israeli police commissioner at the race headquarters in Jerusalem yesterday.

The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel has opposed the race being held in Israel since it was announced.

It has produced an online tool showing how the Giro is whitewashing the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, which can be found at mstar.link/Giroboycott.