A pro-Palestinian group plans to protest a Cleveland Caveliers exhibition game against Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball team.
The Al-Awda or The Palestinian Right to Return Coalition will hold a rally outside the Quicken Loans Arena on Oct. 5, according to Cleveland.com. Cavaliers head coach David Blatt will welcome his former Israel team to test its skills against LeBron James and company.
"Cleveland refuses the presence of the Israeli terror entity's team playing at Quicken Loans Arena... We will not be silent as we freshly remember Gaza," the group wrote on its Facebook page.
Blatt had coached in Israel on and off since 1993 before he took the Cleveland head coaching position in June. As head coach, the Maccabi Tel Aviv team compiled a 225-55 record between 2010 and 2014. The coach also supported Israel during the Gaza conflict this summer.
"This war is Israel's most justified war I can remember in recent years," Blatt told Israeli business newspaper Globes in August. "I'm really sorry about what's happening in Gaza, but there's no doubt that we had to act there, so that Israel will have quiet there once and for all, and we can live in peace."
Al-Awda has invited hundreds to the protest and used Blatt's words to stir support. The group will hold another rally outside the Barclay's Center in Brooklyn on Oct. 7 when the Maccabi Tel Aviv team plays the Brooklyn Nets.
The organization claims Israel uses their sports team to garner further support across the globe, despite the country's occupation of Palestine, according to its Facebook page.
