‘War criminal promotion tactics’: Adidas faces boycott calls over campaign featuring Israeli trooper

Calls for a boycott of Adidas are growing after the sportswear company featured an Israeli trooper in a global campaign.

The campaign has prompted criticism from pro-Palestine organizations and activists because of the trooper Shaliv Biton’s participation in the Israeli regime’s bloodletting in Gaza.

The campaign has been rolled out in Adidas stores, including its outlets in the occupied territories.

Biton took part in an Israeli assault in Gaza in 2021 that claimed the lives of more than 200 Palestinians and destroyed numerous buildings.

Critics have reminded Biton’s military background and his social media activity. He has shared photographs and videos of himself and other Israeli forces in Gaza, including footage of troops singing and dancing, while his profile also contains images of him carrying weapons.

Sports journalist Leyla Hamed criticized Adidas’ choice of campaign representative, arguing that the company chose to bank on Biton’s having lost a leg, while it should have considered the wider context of limb loss in Gaza.

2025 World Press Photo: 9-year-old Palestinian amputee symbolizes Gaza's tragedy

The heartbreaking picture of a 9-year-old Palestinian boy who lost both his arms in an Israeli airstrike that targeted Gaza City in March 2024 was named the 2025 World Press Photo of the Year.

“Gaza has the highest per capita rate of child amputees in the world. More than 5,000 traumatic limb amputations have been estimated since October 2023, as a result of Israeli attacks carried out by soldiers like the one Adidas chose to model for them,” she wrote on X.

US-based political commentator and activist Guy Christensen also condemned the campaign, writing, “Actually disgusting when you know kids in Gaza who might not ever get to walk again.” He subsequently called for a boycott of Adidas.

Another activist denounced the company for associating itself with the Israeli military.

“The German sportswear brand Adidas is using Zionist war criminals from the "Israel" army, who lost a foot while invading Gaza, to promote their new single-foot sneakers. More than 4,000 Palestinian children have been amputated by "Israel's" bombs, but Adidas and other millionaire multinationals ignore them,” the activist wrote on X.

Other critics similarly condemned Adidas for associating itself with genocide and apartheid.

Earlier this year, the NGO Humanity & Inclusion reported that between 70 and 80 percent of patients admitted to the 12 hospitals that were still partially functioning in Gaza had lost limbs or suffered spinal cord injuries.

UNICEF estimated in January 2024 that about 1,000 children in Gaza had lost one or both legs, equivalent at the time to approximately 10 children losing a limb each day during Israeli bombardments. The figure is believed to have risen since then.

The shortage of medical supplies and the continuing blockade of Gaza have also complicated the treatment and rehabilitation of amputees. Healthcare workers have resorted to producing homemade prosthetics as temporary aids for people who have lost limbs while waiting for access to appropriate prosthetic devices.

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