#RedCardIsrael: Calls for FIFA to suspend Israel intensify over Gaza atrocities

Pro-Palestinian activists are urging football fans to pressure FIFA to expel Israel from the global governing body for the sport in an upcoming vote on the matter on Saturday.

Fans are being urged to email the FIFA Council members asking them to suspend Israeli teams, in time for the FIFA Extraordinary Council Meeting, where officials will discuss the Palestinian proposal to suspend Israel from international football due to the brutal Gaza war.

Among the organisations calling for Israel's suspension is the online movement Red Card Israel, who are asking fans to the FIFA Council on the matter.

The group, which describes itself as a South African grassroots movement, set up a petition for supporters to sign, which read: "The sanctioning of Israeli teams is a real opportunity to help isolate Israel internationally for genocidal acts, including its killing of civilians and footballers, and could help build peace in Palestine."

The group drew parallels with sanctions impacting South African teams during the Apartheid era, saying that sanctions "helped end" the ideology which enforced segregation and discrimination between white South Africans and other ethnic groups in the country.

The petition said Israel’s suspension would be "a chance to stand in solidarity with Palestinians, including their own colleagues at the Palestine Football Association".

The calls for Israel’s expulsion come as Israel continues its war on Gaza, which has killed at least 38,794 Palestinians since 7 October.

Israel has relentlessly bombarded residential buildings, schools and hospitals as part of its brutal offensive – ongoing for over nine months.

Among those killed are at least 265 Palestinian athletes, including 55 footballers. Stadiums and sport complexes have been razed to the ground by Israel’s strikes.

In April, the Palestinian Football Federation (PFA) proposed sanctions and suspensions on the Israeli football association, on grounds of human rights and humanitarian law violations, as Israel continued to subject Palestinians in Gaza to death and destruction on a daily basis.

The PFA’s proposal is supported by the Jordanian Football Association (JFA).

In May, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said that the governing body "must seek" independent legal advice before holding the vote. Infantino said that the legal assessment "will have to allow for inputs and claims" from both the Palestinian and Israeli football associations.

Meanwhile, Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein of Jordan reiterated calls to ban Israel from FIFA earlier this week, because of the war in Gaza.

The prince, who is King Abdullah’s half-brother and president of the Jordanian FA said on Monday: "The continuation of the status quo without taking decisive steps reinforces double standards and reflects an unfair image of the sports world".

Calls to suspend Israeli teams have not been exclusive to football. Petitions and pro-Palestinian activists have urged the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to ban Israeli athletes from competing in the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris, due to take place in July.

Many have pointed to the double standards in which Russian and Belarusian athletes have been excluded or forced to compete neutrally in sport due to Moscow's invasion and ongoing war in Ukraine.

#