I ATTENDED the Wales v Israel EUFA Women’s qualifier match in Newport yesterday. 
As I walked to the ground, through the city, I encountered the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign protest. 
I was concerned about their presence there on a number of counts.
They were politicising a sporting event which brings people together in the spirit of friendly competition.
And their cry of ‘Free, free Palestine from the river to the sea’, by default calls for the destruction of Israel – a sovereign state which is the only full democracy in the Middle East. 
Their spurious cocktail of demonisation, delegitimisation and condemnation does absolutely nothing to further the cause of genuine peace.
It is sad that their presence, and the media coverage of it, marred what was otherwise an excellent sporting event.

J Woodford
Newport