FIFA stalls on Israel sanctions...again
Football’s governing body keeps postponing the decision to ban Israel, even as the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians escalates and conflict intensifies across the Middle East.
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Following a meeting at its headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) has once again postponed a decision to ban Israel from international football.
Instead, the self-regulatory governing body of association football released a statement announcing that its disciplinary committee will review the allegations of discrimination that have been raised by the Palestinian Football Association (PFA).
“The FIFA Disciplinary Committee will be mandated to initiate an investigation into the alleged offence of discrimination raised by the Palestine Football Association,” read the statement published on Oct. 3. “The FIFA Governance, Audit and Compliance Committee will be entrusted with the mission to investigate – and subsequently advise the FIFA Council on – the participation in Israeli competitions of Israeli football teams allegedly based in the territory of Palestine.”
In May, the PFA submitted a proposal to sanction Israel on the grounds of human rights and humanitarian law violations committed in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank. Since then, several federations and NGOs have filed submissions to FIFA in support of the PFA’s bid.
Initially, FIFA vowed to resolve the issue during an extraordinary council meeting in July, only to postpone the decision to the August 31 council session. FIFA then pushed the decision back again to its October meeting, where it was once again postponed to allow for “due diligence,” according to FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
“The FIFA Council has implemented due diligence on this very sensitive matter and, based on a thorough assessment, we have followed the advice of the independent experts,” Infantino said. “The ongoing violence in the region confirms that, above all considerations, and as stated at the 74th FIFA Congress, we need peace. As we remain extremely shocked by what is happening, and our thoughts are with those who are suffering, we urge all parties to restore peace to the region with immediate effect.”
In response to FIFA’s decision not to take immediate action to suspend Israel, Ekō, an NGO that produced an independent legal analysis which said there was no question that Israel is breaking FIFA statutes, released a statement via campaign director Rewan Al-Hadad condemning FIFA’s choice to “kick the decision down the road.”
“After more than 400,000 people raised an outcry urging FIFA to stand up for human rights, it decided to kick the decision down the road, while a genocidal regime is slaughtering thousands of children in Gaza.
Today, members of the FIFA Council proved that FIFA’s actions are based on vested interests and double standards, not on an ethical charter which it claims to uphold. As Israel’s military campaign extends its brutality across the region, the message is clear: this is a regime that will relentlessly wreak havoc, while FIFA wilfully ignores it.
On behalf of the Ekō community, we say to the more than 41,000 souls that have been slaughtered in Gaza, and the millions more facing genocide: you are not forgotten – we will keep fighting to give Israel the red card.”
Over the past year, more than 41,000 people, including 16,000 children, have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza. More than 89,000 Palestinians have been injured while at least 10,000 are feared still buried under rubble. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led attacks on October 7.
Israel’s assault on Gaza has also laid waste to the strip’s infrastructure, razing entire neighbourhoods and destroying agriculture, libraries, universities, and hospitals alike.
Palestinian sports have not been spared in Israel’s ongoing war. All of the city’s football stadiums have been destroyed or partially damaged, while a total of 49 other sports facilities have suffered similar fates. According to the Palestinian football association (PFA), more than 343 athletes have been killed since October 7, including 241 football players (67 children and 174 adults).
Among the footballers killed was Palestinian legend Mohammed Barakat, Gaza’s first centurion of goals and a former national team player known as the “Legend of Khan Younis.” Shortly before he was killed, Barakat released a tearful message on social media, bidding farewell to his loved ones while bombs could be heard falling in the background.
The conflict has now spread beyond Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Israel launched an unprecedented strike on Lebanon, targeting thousands of booby-trapped pagers and other low-tech devices such as walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members. This was followed by the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and a subsequent ground invasion of Lebanon. In response, Iran retaliated on Tuesday by firing nearly 200 missiles at Israel. This long feared turning point could spiral into a wider war in the Middle East.
Meanwhile, FIFA has given no timetable or deadline for when its “due diligence” investigation will be concluded.
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Any idea how quickly FIFA suspended Russia after they invaded Ukraine ?