Adidas faces boycott calls over campaign featuring former Israeli soldier

Sportswear giant Adidas has faced criticism and calls for a boycott for featuring a former Israeli army soldier in an advertising campaign for the company's single-shoe service for amputees.

Key points

• Biton lost his leg after being wounded during the 2021 Israel-Gaza conflict, during which the Israeli army attacked the besieged enclave repeatedly in an 11-day assault.
• They are among the 42, 000 Palestinians in Gaza who have sustained life-changing injuries during the two-year conflict.
• US-Palestinian author Susan Abulhawa, Pakistani author Fatima Bhutto, and Palestinians on social media pressed a boycott of Adidas products.
• Spanish actor Javier Bardem was among those calling for a boycott of the sportswear brand.
• It prevents medicines and prosthetics from entering the Gaza Strip after Israeli destruction of the territory's medical facilities.

Notably, the Adidas promoting its in-store service. It demonstrates former Israeli soldier Shalev Biton trying on a shoe at a store in Israel and then wearing it while running outdoors, was termed "an affront to Palestinians" by a boycott campaigns coordinator on Sunday.

Human rights campaigners and pro-Palestine activists say the immediate outrage and online boycott campaign targeted at Adidas should not come as a surprise to the German athletic apparel and footwear firm.

"This isn't Adidas being tone-deaf or insensitive; it is an absolute affront to the Palestinians who have lost their loved ones, killed by Israel, and who have lost their limbs, " Stephanie Westbrook, a sports boycott campaigns coordinator for the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) – a founding member of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement – informed Al Jazeera.

Westbrook underlined the danger of such campaigns. It she believes would "normalise Israel's crimes against Palestinians and allow it to continue to commit them with impunity".

"Here we have an Adidas campaign featuring an Israeli soldier, whose whole identity is centred around his being a soldier, who lost his leg while participating in one of the repeated Israeli assaults on Gaza, serving in an army of a state that is currently committing genocide, has carried out an illegal military occupation of the Palestinian territory, and that has been imposing a decades-long apartheid rule over Palestinians, " she remarked.

When Israel and Hamas signed a "ceasefire" agreement, the World Health Organization estimates that between 5, 000 and 6, 000 individuals in Gaza have undergone amputations as of early October 2025. They are among the 42, 000 Palestinians in Gaza who have sustained life-changing injuries during the two-year conflict.

Almost a year since the ceasefire, conditions remain dire due to Israel's blockage of humanitarian aid from entering the enclave.

While the demonstrates the soldier returning to the streets to exercise and run, more than one thousand Palestinian athletes have been killed during Israel's genocidal war on Gaza.

Hundreds of aspiring footballers have lost their limbs and have formed amputee football teams, finding some respite in sport despite their pain.

These players hold on to football as a means of survival and are trying to reclaim fragments of their former lives despite months of loss, injuries, and widespread destruction.

Spanish actor Javier Bardem was among those calling for a boycott of the sportswear brand. Bardem, who is a vocal pro-Palestine activist, shared a number of images and videos highlighting the boycott campaign on his social media accounts.

Rights campaigner Westbrook highlighted Israel's blockade on Gaza. It prevents medicines and prosthetics from entering the Gaza Strip after Israeli destruction of the territory's medical facilities.

Children account for a quarter of all amputations in Gaza over the past two years, making it the place in the world with the highest number of child amputees per capita, according to the International Rescue Committee.

Westbrook remarked Israel had "decimated the health sector", causing a severe lack of care and rehabilitation services.

"Its medieval siege is preventing prosthetics from even entering Gaza, creating this man-made shortage, " she continued.

Since the Israeli war on Gaza began in October 2023, reports the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), 42, 000 Palestinians have suffered life-altering injuries, of which 11, 000 are children.

Taken together, the developments around adidas faces boycott calls over campaign featuring former Israeli soldier point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.