FIFA, soccer's international governing body, on Friday said it needed to seek legal advice before submitting a motion filed by the Palestinian Football Association, citing Israel's actions during the conflict in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The decision on Israel's temporary suspension was postponed.
The motion calling for Israel's suspension cited “violations of international law by the Israeli occupation of Palestine, particularly Gaza” and cited violations of FIFA's human rights and discrimination provisions.
Reacting to an emotional speech by Palestinian football body president Djibril Rajoub at the FIFA annual general meeting, FIFA president Gianni Infantino called an extraordinary board meeting on July 25 due to the urgency of the situation. Then he said.
He said that before that meeting, FIFA will ask experts to analyze whether Israel's actions violate the governing body's rules. By contrast, in 2022, after the Russian military launched a full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine, FIFA acted quickly to ban Russian teams and clubs from the competition.
Rajoub has long pursued sanctions against Israel and its teams over a variety of issues, including freedom of movement for Palestinian players and allowing teams based in territories controlled by the Palestinian Football Federation to play in Israeli domestic leagues. . Since Israeli forces invaded Gaza last October in retaliation for the October 7 Hamas-led attack, all soccer infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, including historic stadiums, has been destroyed, Rajoub said.
Moshe Zuarez, Israel's head of football, criticized the Palestinian move as “cynical”. But even the possibility of a temporary ban from the team could have an immediate impact. Israel is scheduled to compete in the men's tournament at the Paris Olympics around the time of the FIFA General Assembly in July, and will then begin qualifying for the 2026 Men's World Cup. this year.
Israeli and Palestinian officials were using Friday's parliamentary run-up to lobby officials from other national federations. A day earlier, at a meeting of the Asian football governing body, members unanimously approved a decision to support the Palestinian federation's motion after being shown a video showing the impact of the war in Gaza.
During Friday's meeting, Palestinian officials addressed FIFA's 211 members twice, followed by Jordanian officials who also called for action from FIFA.
Infantino acknowledged the urgency of the issue but declined to call a vote. Instead, he said the organization's 37-member governing council would decide what to do within two months.
“FIFA will now evaluate the three requests from the Palestinian Football Association and delegate them to independent legal experts to ensure that FIFA's status and regulations are applied in the correct manner,” he said.