Adidas Apologizes After Shoe Promo in Israel Featuring Disabled Former Soldier Sparks Palestinian Freakout

After a weekend of online controversy, the Germany-based athletic shoe and apparel brand Adidas is backing away from its decision to feature Shalev Biton, a former Israeli soldier, in promotions for an “inclusion” program that lets amputees save money by buying only one shoe.“We recognize that an image used in a recent local activation by the local team has raised concerns and strong reactions. It was never our intent to cause offense and we apologize for anyone affected,” the company wrote in a statement. The former soldier was one of 11 amputees featured in the campaign that included posters of the men and women in company stores situated around the embattled American ally. That 10-1 ratio is at odds with the reality that roughly half of Israelis are veterans of the Israeli Defense Forces under its system of mandatory service.Palestinians and sympathetic media outlets such as Al Jazeera shared the claim Biton was wounded in Gaza and that Adidas did not offer the footwear discount there.Biton was wounded in Israel by an anti-tank missile fired from Gaza on May 12th, 2021 while he served in the IDF’s Nahal Infantry brigade. Adidas plans to soon offer the discount in Gaza and the West Bank.Israelis reacted to the apology with outrage. “Adidas—the brand that stuck by Kanye (West) long after his antisemitism was clear and whose founders Adi and Rudi Dassler were members of the Nazi party—has apologized for partnering with a disabled Jewish man,” wrote Hen Mazzig, a fellow at the Tel Aviv Institute, “How completely on brand.”This isn’t the first time Adidas got caught up in Middle East politics. In 2024, Adidas apologized for an ad campaign featuring a Palestinian-American actress fronting for retro sneakers the company had released during the 1972 Olympics. Eleven Israeli athletes were murdered by Palestinian terrorists at those games.The program is not available in the United States, part of the company’s second largest North American market. “Adidas is congratulating itself for an amputee support program that wounded American veterans cannot even use and its benefit is hardly generous,” former Trump transition official James Robbins told The Sun. “Adidas has no business lecturing anyone about inclusion while excluding the Americans who sacrificed limbs in service to their country.”The company sells more than $3 billion of shoes in North America annually where thousands of veterans of the War on Terror have lost a leg, according to the Department of Defense. Rival shoe brand Nike has for years offered American amputees a free single shoe annually when they call a hotline. Adidas has plans to roll out the discounts soon in “the UAE, Palestine, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Egypt,” according to a statement.

Adidas Apologizes After Shoe Promo in Israel Featuring Disabled Former Soldier Sparks Palestinian Freakout

Adidas Apologizes After Shoe Promo in Israel Featuring Disabled Former Soldier Sparks Palestinian Freakout

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