As the international football family gears up for 15 May’s FIFA Congress, a call goes out to take immediate action: Kick Israel out of FIFA. This is not a political action, but a moral obligation in line with FIFA’s own values. Football is a sport intended to bring people together, bridge borders, and foster peace. However, FIFA’s persistent membership of Israel a government alleged to have committed genocide, apartheid, and years-long military occupation of Palestine blatantly defies its core values.
FIFA’s Core Values: What Does It Stand For?
FIFA, as stated in its statutes, is founded on core principles including:
- Human rights
- Non-discrimination
- Fair play and solidarity
- Respect and dignity
Article 3 of FIFA’s statutes categorically says that “FIFA is committed to respecting all internationally recognised human rights and shall strive to promote the protection of these rights.” Including Israel, a state regularly abusing human rights on an ongoing basis, within FIFA negates the integrity of the organisation itself.
The Reality on the Ground: Israel’s Human Rights Violations
Ever since 1948, and specifically after the capture of Gaza and the West Bank in 1967, Israel has pursued a prolonged campaign of settler-colonialism, ethnic cleansing, and apartheid. In accordance with many human rights groups such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and UN Special Rapporteurs, Israel is accountable for:
- Illegal settlements of Palestinian families.
- Extrajudicial executions and indiscriminate bombings, especially in Gaza.
- Systemic movement restrictions, such as checkpoints, the Apartheid Wall, and the siege of Gaza.
- Detention of children, journalists, and human rights activists without trial.
- Destruction of infrastructure, such as sports buildings, stadiums, and football clubs in the occupied territory.
They have a direct impact on Palestinian athletes, who sometimes cannot travel to play matches, train without restrictions, or host international visitors because of military closures and curfews.
FIFA’s Silence: Complicity Through Inaction
FIFA has in the past acted against member associations that were found to be implicated in egregious human rights abuses. For instance:
- South Africa was excluded from FIFA in 1964 because of its apartheid government.
- Russia was suspended from competition in international football in 2022 after invading Ukraine.
Why Is Israel Treated Differently?
Failing to act against Israel signals that FIFA is willing to overlook crimes when it is politically inconvenient to challenge them. This inconsistency not only stains FIFA’s credibility but also dehumanises the victims of Israel’s actions — the Palestinian people — by denying them the same justice afforded to others.
Israel in FIFA: A Tool for Sportswashing
By staying in FIFA, Israel gets to enjoy “sportswashing” — employing sport to divert attention from or trivialise its violent means. Football on the international level presents Israel with an international platform with which to project itself as a regular, democratic country while it commits war crimes against Palestinians.
This facade conceals the truth: players are jailed or murdered, stadiums are blown up, and generations of Palestinian youth have their right to play the beautiful game taken away from them.
FIFA’s inclusion of Israel with impunity serves to whitewash these atrocities and grant Israel unwarranted legitimacy on the global stage.
The Call to Action: Time to Ban Israel from FIFA
As global citizens and part of the world football community, it is time to call for accountability.
Before the 15 May FIFA Congress, we call for the following:
- Ban Israel from FIFA and all international football games until it abides by international law and ends its occupation of Palestinian territory.
- Initiate a separate inquiry into the effects of the military activities of Israel on Palestinian football, such as destruction of facilities and loss of players’ lives.
- Apply pressure to national associations, particularly in the UK, to bring this matter before the Congress and vote in favor of suspending Israel.
- Send email to national football associations (such as the UK FA) to persuade them to lobby for Israel’s exclusion at the FIFA Congress.
- Reach out to FIFA leadership figures, such as President Gianni Infantino and Secretary General Fatma Samoura, to hold them to account.
- Sign and circulate petitions demanding Israel’s suspension from FIFA.
- Utilize social media to raise public awareness and pressure decision-makers through hashtags and targeted campaigns.
- Protest during the FIFA Congress to demonstrate public opposition.
You can act quickly by emailing the UK Football Associations, as well as the FIFA President and Secretary General, calling on them to support a ban. Call on FIFA not to be a shield for genocidal violence anymore.
What Banning Israel Would Mean
Banning Israel from FIFA is not a hostility towards the Israeli people or the Jewish community. Instead, it is a specific reaction against a government and military that have used sport, culture, and diplomacy as a cloak to cover up oppression.
A ban would deliver a very clear message: football does not condone racism, occupation, apartheid, or genocide.
It would:
- Demonstrate solidarity with the Palestinian people and sportspeople.
- Affirm FIFA’s commitment to human rights and fair play.
- Show that no nation is above the law, even in terms of political affiliation.
- Offer hope to millions who feel that sport can and ought to be a force for justice.
Palestinians Deserve to Play Too
Children play football amongst the ruins of destroyed buildings in Gaza. Kids in the West Bank use checkpoints to reach training. Many never arrive.
The occupation has not only taken land and lives it has taken dreams.
Football is a global language. But when Israel demolishes football fields and arrests young players, it silences that language for a whole people. FIFA can give that voice back.
FIFA Must Choose Its Side
FIFA is at a juncture now. It can keep giving Israel the benefit of world football while it continues to commit apartheid and genocide or it can become what it has always professed to be. If it bans Israel, FIFA would be affirming that football is not just a sport it is an international movement for unity, dignity, and justice. The world is observing. Palestine is observing. History will hold FIFA accountable not for trophies that it hands out, but for values that it stands for.
