THE Palestine Football Association (PFA) has called for a Fifa sanction and to exclude the Israel Football Association (IFA) from Fifa on the grounds of human rights and humanitarian law violations committed in the Gaza Strip, it was revealed today.
The submission to the international football governing body concerns a number of violations of both international law and Fifa regulations.
It called on Fifa to push the IFA to address discrimination and racism within its league and to address IFA violations of the Fifa statutes in its continued inclusion of football teams located on the territory of another association (Palestine) in its national league.
Article 4 of the Fifa Statutes strictly prohibits “discrimination of any kind against a country … or group of people” on any grounds, and says any breach of this non-discrimination obligation is punishable by “suspension or expulsion.”
The submission lists a number of examples that indicate the IFA has failed to take action against discrimination and racism in its league, “which constitutes a direct violation of article 3 of the Fifa Statutes.”
“The clearest example of this is ‘Beitar Jerusalem FC,’ which is an Israeli professional football club from Jerusalem and a member of the Israeli Premier League.
“As reported by the Economist: Supporters of the football club proudly sing about how it is ‘the most racist team’ in Israel. They scream epithets, such as ‘terrorist,’ at the Arabs who play for opposing squads.”
The PFA also claim Israeli football clubs openly block Arabs from joining its ranks, and harsh violence is treated solely as disciplinary offences “to be handled by the biased Israel Football Association’s internal dispute resolution mechanism.”
The submission also highlights social media posts by some administrators and clubs in Israeli football, including a post on LinkedIn by the CEO of the Israeli Professional Football Leagues, and a Facebook post by FC Maccabi Netanya.
“[The posts] indicate strong support for genocide in Gaza. Many of the Israeli footballers are in the IDF, an occupation army that is currently engaged in the most serious violation of international humanitarian laws.”
The PFA added that Fifa continues to incorporate “at least five illegal settlement clubs located in the territory of the PFA into its national league.”
The Fifa submission went on to list the damages and problems with Gaza’s football infrastructure because of Israeli attacks.
It added that smaller facilities and dirt pitches have been transformed into makeshift refugee camps, field hospitals and mass graves.
The application made to Fifa by the PFA also highlighted the atrocities that have occurred in recent months in the Gaza Strip to further back up their sanctions request.
“Since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza, at least 39,178 civilians were killed in Gaza including at least 14,622 children, while 73,300 were injured. 425 people were killed in the West Bank including 113 children. By 11 March 2024, at least 92 footballers, including 23 young juniors, were killed.
“Until 11 March, Israeli attacks have damaged or destroyed 356,900 residential units, which is 80% of Gaza’s homes. 435 educational facilities, including all universities and 90% of the schools, and 624 places of worship were destroyed or damaged. 10 out of 35 hospitals are only partially functioning — the rest have been destroyed,” the PFA continued, highlighting that Unicef named a current Israeli attack on Gaza as a “war on children.”
The 74th Fifa conference will run from May 13-17 in Bangkok.
