ByMATHILDA HELLERSEPTEMBER 6, 2026 21:28Updated: SEPTEMBER 7, 2026 19:12

Adidas is facing boycott calls over a campaign featuring former IDF soldier and amputee Shalev Biton.

Biton lost his left leg in May 2021 while serving in the Nahal Brigade during Operation Guardian of the Walls.

He recently partnered with Adidas to promote the sports brand’s in-store “single shoe” service campaign, which is designed to help make footwear more accessible to people with a limb difference.

The service offers qualifying customers the option of purchasing only their required shoe at 50% off the listed price, rather than having to purchase both shoes.

The campaign posters were only used within Israel

Ten other disabled athletes joined Biton for the series of advertisements for Adidas Israel. The posters were not used outside of Israel.

Anti-Israel cartoon from Project Unite Humanity on Instagram, comparing child amputees in Gaza to Israeli disabled athlete and former soldier Shalev Biton. Graphic posted on September 6, 2026. (credit: SCREENSHOT VIA INSTAGRAM)

Over the past few days, however, anti-Israel figures – especially Spanish actor Javier Bardem – noticed Biton’s involvement and amplified it on social media, resulting in mass calls for a boycott.

Many falsely claimed that Biton had been a soldier during the Israel-Hamas War.

Project Unite Humanity, an online activist group, recently released a cartoon that said: “Gaza has the highest number of child amputees per capita in the world. Adidas chose an IOF (Israeli Occupation Forces) soldier.”

Other activist accounts have posted graphics that encourage people to throw their Adidas shoes in the trash, and some activists have shared videos of them throwing away their running shoes.

Major pro-Palestinian advocacy accounts, including Europe Palestine Network and The Times of Palestine, released a joint statement titled “Adidas partners with criminals, ignores victims.”

“Adidas featured former Israeli soldier Shalev Biton,” it said. “Meanwhile, thousands of Palestinians have suffered amputations during Israel’s genocide, including 10-year-old Rateb Abu Qleiq. An Israeli airstrike killed his mother and brother and cost him his right leg. With proper prosthetics unavailable, he fashioned one from a plastic sewage pipe.

“Adidas made an Israeli soldier the face of inclusion, while Gaza’s child amputees remain largely unseen.”

In response to the campaign against him, Biton said he has “been hit by an absolutely insane wave of hatred and reports from all over the world,” amounting to tens of thousands of social-media posts, videos, and messages.

“Some of the biggest pro-Palestinian pages in the world, with millions of followers and millions of likes and shares, have been posting about me again and again, and the abuse and reports just don’t stop,” he said.

Biton asked his supporters to share his page, invite people to come and follow, and help him strengthen this space.

“There are millions over there,” he said. “I want to feel that you’re here with me.”

Biton had not responded to a request for comment from The Jerusalem Post by press time.

Follow us on Google

---