Israel must be suspended for violating FIFA statutes, say human rights lawyers

Israel must be banned from all football-related activities due to its violation of FIFA statutes during the Gaza war. This is the result of an independent analysis by lawyers specializing in international law and human rights.

The Palestinian Football Association (PFA) submitted a request to suspend Israel in May, after which FIFA ordered an urgent legal review and promised to address the issue at an extraordinary council meeting in July.

The Asian Football Confederation had also pledged its support for action against Israel, and PFA President Jibril Al-Rajoub said FIFA could not afford to “remain indifferent to violations or the ongoing genocide in Palestine”.

Lawyer Max du Plessis, who was involved in South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, co-authored the analysis with Sarah Pudifin-Jones after being approached by Eko, a social justice non-profit organisation.

“There is no doubt that Israel’s conduct in Palestine has undermined and continues to undermine FIFA’s objectives,” the report said.

“Israel has violated the internationally recognized human rights of Palestinians, in contravention of Article 3. It has discriminated and continues to discriminate against Palestinians on the basis of race, national origin and birth, in direct violation of Article 4(1).

“Its conduct undermines the humanitarian objectives set out in Article 5.1(b). Israel’s conduct requires reprimand, in line with the position FIFA has taken with regard to similarly blatant violations of its objectives and internationally recognized human rights.”

The Palestinian complaint accuses the Israel Football Association (IFA) of complicity in violations of international law by the Israeli government and discrimination against Arab players. The IFA rejected this.

Eko said their petition calling on FIFA, the International Olympic Committee and sports federations to ban Israel from international sport had received over 380,000 signatures.

Reuters has asked FIFA for comment.

“REQUIRES FIFA INTERVENTION”

When the PFA made requests to suspend Israel in recent years, FIFA did not impose sanctions. In 2017, it declared the matter closed and not subject to further discussion until the legal or factual framework changed.

The report states that developments since October have led to “a new legal framework that requires FIFA intervention.”

Al-Rajoub had cited precedents at the FIFA Congress and in his analysis said that Israel’s suspension was in line with previous FIFA decisions to suspend or exclude member associations that violate its objectives.

The South African Football Association was suspended in 1961 due to the country’s apartheid policies, while Yugoslavia was banned in 1992 due to United Nations sanctions in light of the Serbian-dominated government’s aggression in the Balkans.

Most recently, both FIFA and its European counterpart UEFA reacted quickly in 2022 and suspended Russian teams from their competitions following the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

Critics accused Israel of genocide against the Palestinians, which Israel denies.

Israel describes its actions as self-defense to prevent another attack like the one on October 7. However, in January the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to take measures to prevent genocide.

According to Israeli sources, Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages in their cross-border raid into southern Israel on October 7.

Israel responded with a military operation in the Gaza Strip in which, according to Gaza health authorities, more than 38,000 Palestinians were killed.