Israeli chess players have been forced to ditch the regime’s flag at an international competition in Spain amid mounting pressure over the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The regime forces are carrying out an ongoing genocidal war on Gaza, killing and wounding more than 225,814 people (64,231 killed and 161,583 wounded) across the Palestinian land since October 2023.
In order to show support for the defenseless Palestinians in Gaza, media reports said on Monday that the chess competition organizers at an international tournament in Spain banned the Israeli chess players from playing at the event under the regime’s flag.
Instead, the Israeli chess players are required to use the neutral flag of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) if they decide to remain in the tournament, seeking a FIDE title and more than 20,000€ in prizes.
The XL Open Basque Country Sestao 2025, also referred to as the 33 Magistral Internacional de Euskadi, is an open international chess tournament held in Sestao, a town in the Basque Country region of northern Spain.
The tournament, which is open to federated players of any level and from anywhere in the world, is scheduled to be held in a total of nine rounds from September 12 to September 18, 2025.
Meanwhile, pro-Palestinian activists from across the globe continue piling pressure on the Israeli regime to end the genocide in Gaza.
In related news, leading genocide scholars passed a resolution confirming that the Israeli regime’s atrocious actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide.
In November 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli minister of military affairs Yoav Gallant on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The Israeli regime also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for its war on the besieged coastal territory.
The pro-Palestinians from across the globe have also called for the all-out boycott, divestment and sanction of the Israeli regime to show solidarity with the innocent Palestinians in Gaza in an effort to stop the ongoing genocide..
United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, who is an expert in legal affairs, has urged nations to take action to halt Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, including by implementing sanctions and an arms embargo against the brutal entity.