“Until acts of aggression stop”: a group of countries called for Israel to be suspended from international football tournaments

“We call on FIFA to take a decisive position”

The call by a group of Middle Eastern countries to ban Israeli teams and clubs from international competitions did not come as much of a surprise. After all, FIFA and UEFA did not impose any restrictions on the state after the outbreak of the armed conflict in the Gaza Strip in October 2023.

According to Sky News, a group of 12 football associations, including Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, sent a letter to all 211 national federations and six confederations, including UEFA, where Israel is a member.

The initiative was led by the President of the West Asian Football Federation, Ali bin al-Hussein, half-brother of King Abdullah II of Jordan.

“We, the representatives of the West Asian football federations, like all our members, call on FIFA, football confederations and member associations to join us in taking a strong stand against the atrocities committed in Palestine and war crimes in the Gaza Strip, condemning the killing of innocent civilians, including including football players, coaches, referees and officials, as well as the destruction of football infrastructure, and present a united front regarding the suspension of the Israel Football Association from all football-related activities until these acts of aggression cease,” the document says.

According to Ali bin al-Hussein, the emerging humanitarian crisis requires an “unambiguous and decisive response” from the global football community. The functionary also called on all FIFA members to stand up for human rights in this situation.

Jordan made a call to exclude Israel from all international competitions at the end of December.

“We firmly believe that the global sports community has the capacity and undeniable authority to defend human rights in accordance with international treaties and legal norms. It must actively act accordingly by imposing strong dissuasive legal sanctions against Israeli sports associations in order to immediately ban them from participating in international competitions,” the local association said in a statement.

The letter from a group of Middle Eastern countries did not go unanswered in Israel. IFA Director General Niv Goldstein urged people not to mix politics with sports.

“We oppose the interference of politicians in football and the influence of political issues on sport in general. Therefore, we are focused only on football and dream of getting to the European Championship in 2024, and I am looking forward to the advent of world peace,” he said.

The functionary could not help but be asked what the difference was between Israel and Russia, which FIFA and UEFA promptly suspended from all competitions under their auspices in 2022. He emphasized that there is a “big difference” between these two cases.

UEFA also responded to the incident. Apparently, the country should not be afraid of sanctions.

“We have not had discussions about what to do with Israel and Russia. These are two completely different stories,” said UEFA Secretary General Theodore Theodoridis.

A similar question was asked a little earlier to the head of the union, Aleksander Čeferin, but he answered evasively, complaining that recently the number of armed conflicts in the world has only been increasing. But the RFU openly called the attitude of the higher organization unfair.

“It should be the same. The basic principle declared by UEFA and FIFA: football is beyond politics. At the moment, it is not fully observed,” Sport-Express quotes RFU Secretary General Maxim Mitrofanov.

Indeed, no restrictions were initially imposed on Israel. The only thing is that UEFA has banned matches in the country. The Euro 2024 qualifying match with Kosovo, which was supposed to take place on October 15, was also postponed.

As a result, the blue-whites calmly completed qualification, although they were forced to host opponents in Hungary. True, the autumn period was not very successful for them. Alon Hazan's team beat only modest Andorra, tied with Switzerland and lost to Kosovo and Romania. As a result, they were unable to get into the top 2 of their group and directly qualify for the continental championship.

But the team retained an additional chance thanks to its successful performance in the last season of the Nations League. It will compete with Iceland for a ticket to the Euro, and then with Bosnia and Herzegovina or Ukraine.

“The Arabs have the right to put this issue on the agenda”

Russia also responded to the call to punish Israel. Thus, the chairman of the State Duma Committee on Physical Culture and Sports, Dmitry Svishchev, believes that the rules should be the same for everyone.

“Nowhere is it written that athletes can be suspended for political reasons. In this situation, we see that Russia and Belarus were removed precisely for these reasons with the wording “for security reasons.” But our guys are now participating in many tournaments, and no violations have been recorded anywhere. These are purely political intrigues, into which, unfortunately, sports are being drawn,” Svishchev said in a commentary to RT.

But the honorary president of the RFU, Vyacheslav Koloskov, on the contrary, is sure: the demand of the Middle Eastern states has the right to life. He is perplexed that tough sanctions were immediately imposed on the Russians, while the Israelis continue to play.

“Purely political situation. Therefore, the Arabs have the right to put this issue on the agenda. After all, the root cause of the removal of our teams is security problems. From UEFA's point of view, it cannot be guaranteed. But the same can be said about Israel. You can't play there, there's a war going on. And if their teams arrive somewhere, there are now many Muslims sympathizing with Palestine living in Europe. I don’t see any differences here - this is an absolutely correct request,” he emphasized.

Finally, according to the famous coach Valery Nepomnyashchy, the removal of sports teams for political reasons should be excluded in relation to all countries of the world.

“In principle, I don’t understand when someone is removed for such reasons, be it Russia or Israel. These are absolutely identical situations in which politicians decide who can speak and who cannot,” the specialist complained.