Protesters urge Wimbledon to cut ties with Barclays over Israel business deals

LONDON (AP) – Pro-Palestinian protesters urged Wimbledon to drop Barclays as a sponsor Monday because of the British bank’s business dealings with Israel.

About two dozen protesters from Palestine Solidarity Campaign demonstrated by the main entrance of the All England Club as thousands of fans arrived for Day 1 of the tournament.

“They’re the bank for the arms companies that are obviously supplying weapons to Israel,” protester Khalid Zalmay told The Associated Press. “We should not be arming Israel, we should not be allowing anybody to facilitate arming them, and I think ties should be cut with Israel, the same way that ties were cut with Russia.”

One protester held a sign that said Barclays is a “sponsor of Wimbledon and genocide.”

Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 people in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack that sparked the Israel-Hamas war.

Israel’s military response has led to the death of 56,000 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. It says more than half of the dead were women and children.

Wimbledon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Barclays said it is “proud of our partnership with Wimbledon” and defended its business practices.

“We provide a range of financial services and products to companies supplying defense products to the UK, NATO and its allies,” the company statement said. “As NATO, the EU and UK seek to increase their defense capabilities in response to increasing geopolitical threats, the provision of financial products and services to the defense sector is becoming increasingly important.”