Ask a random person on the street to name 1 cycling team, they wont be able to do so

In the US, sure. It’s very big in Europe, Australia, and elsewhere, though.

Ask them to name 10 football teams and they will do that with ease

Probably

And most of them will be arab owned

That’s a whataboutism. That Arab countries sportswash doesn’t mean that Israel doesn’t.

The scale is not the same

The scale is irrelevant. Sportswashing is sportswashing whether it’s one cycling team or the entire American and Saudi leagues suddenly being filled with superstars from European clubs.

Maybe you are an american and you arent aware what has happened to european football teams.

I’m not and I’m very much against sportswashing no matter who does it.

Israel is a very divided society. They have extremely conservative religious people and super liberal ones. You cant force change like that, change takes time.

I’m talking about the Israeli government coalition, which has full control and consists ONLY of theocratic fascists and less religiously motivated fascists.

They’re the ones in charge of denying LGBTQ+ people rights, they’re the ones in charge of committing daily atrocities in Gaza and the West Bank and they’re the ones in charge of the Hasbara gaslighting you’ve fallen for.

The same can be said for KSA

You’re going to defend Saudi Arabia too, now? Yikes! 😬

I am sure there are plenty of saudis who are kinda liberal and dont really care about oppressing gay people and women.

Yes, but they’re not in charge so they’re not the ones we blame for the atrocious actions of the Royal family and their representatives.

I dont expect MBS to give women freedom to do what they want, i know that isnt feasible in today’s KSA

He’s an autocratic monarch ffs! If he wants it, it happens no matter how little the clergy likes it.

And while this is a huge issue, it is mostly out of KSA’s leadership hand

No, it isn’t. Stop covering for the barbaric regime.

At least Israel has democracy, which is a big achievement

Democracy for some but not others isn’t real democracy. Did you consider Apartheid South Africa a democratic country?

which is a big achievement

Not really, no. It’s the norm for rich modern countries, which Israel is. You might as well give them credit for having trains or public swimming pools.

Even if it is only for its jewish population.

So you’re fine with an Apartheid ethnostate so long as the people who belong to the right ethnicity/religion get to help decide who abuses the others?

Doesn’t sound like you care about democracy that much, if at all.

And it is the only democracy in the area

Nope. That’s also pure Hasbara gaslighting used to excuse the daily crimes against humanity committed by the fascist apartheid regime.

Funnily enough, the other state that had somewhat democracy in the area was Syria. Hence the syrian protests, etc. Egypt also almost became democratic, but the West didnt approve a muslim government, hence the government was overthrown

Pure Islamophobic propaganda.

Except for the part about the US, which is also wrong but not Islamophobic. As much as the US loves overthrowing democratically elected governments, this one was the Egyptian military acting alone.

KSA does not have democracy

So you ARE capable of saying true things! Bravo!

its rulers are naturally very insecure about their regime

On the contrary. It’s the fact that they have absolute power which is not threatened that allows them to act with such impunity.

They need local and foreign support.

They have full local control already. There’s like a thousand princes ruling their own smaller fiefdoms, all subservient to MBS.

As for foreign support, they have no problem buying that with oil, money, and sportswashing.

Just like Israel gets foreign support by buying politicians, sportswashing, and the biggest propaganda operation since the cold war if not ever.