Khaberni - Amnesty International has formally asked FIFA, the international football association, and UEFA, the European football association, to suspend the Israeli Football Association's membership in their tournaments until clubs based in illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories are excluded from participating in Israeli leagues.
The Secretary-General of the organization, Agnès Callamard, said: "As the Israeli national team prepares for the World Cup qualifiers against Norway and Italy, the Israeli military continues to commit genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, where more than 65,000 people, including more than 800 athletes, players, and officials, have been killed in a campaign of destruction, displacement, and deliberate starvation of civilians."
Callamard added, in a statement on Wednesday, that Israel continues "to brutally expand its illegal settlements and legalize new outposts in the West Bank, as part of its unlawful occupation of Palestinian territories," emphasizing that allowing colony clubs to participate in Israeli leagues "represents a scandal after more than a decade of warnings."
The organization pointed out that there are at least six clubs based in settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories that participate in Israeli leagues, in violation of international law, and FIFA's own regulations, which state in Article 64.2 that "member associations and their clubs may not play on the territory of another member association without its consent."
