The Football Association of Ireland said on Saturday that its members had passed a resolution directing the FAI board to submit a formal motion to UEFA calling for the immediate suspension of the Israeli regime’s football association from all European competitions.
The resolution lambasted the Israeli Football Association (IFA) for breaching UEFA’s statutes by failing to enforce anti-racism policies and by allowing regime-backed clubs to play on occupied Palestinian land without the approval of the Palestinian Football Association (PFA).
The decision follows months of mounting pressure from human rights groups, lawyers, and sports advocates who say international football authorities have granted the Israeli regime total impunity while it destroys Gaza and massacres Palestinian athletes.
In October, more than 30 legal experts urged UEFA to expel Israel and its clubs, highlighting that at least 421 Palestinian footballers have been killed since the regime’s assault on Gaza began in October 2023. The letter said the ongoing bombardment is “systematically destroying Gaza’s football infrastructure,” erasing entire generations of Palestinian athletes.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino dismissed calls for sanctions, describing the matter as a “geopolitical issue” during an October 2 council meeting. His remarks were widely seen as an attempt to shield the Israeli regime from accountability under the pretext of neutrality.
Abdullah Al-Arian, a historian at Georgetown University in Qatar, said that the deference shown to Israel reflects “the broader power politics that have allowed the regime to commit genocide with full impunity.”
“Sporting bodies are simply mirroring the same hypocrisy we see across global politics, where Israel is never held accountable,” he told Al Jazeera. “It has been allowed to operate with total impunity throughout this genocide and has enjoyed this impunity for many decades.”
In 2024, the PFA formally accused the Israeli Football Association of violating FIFA statutes through its involvement in the Gaza war and its inclusion of clubs from illegal settlements in domestic leagues. The Palestinian side demanded “appropriate sanctions,” including a full international ban.
FIFA, however, stalled action by referring the matter to its disciplinary committee — a move Al-Arian described as “bureaucratic theater to avoid taking a moral stance.”
“Ultimately, it’s a political decision at the highest levels of the organisation,” he said, adding that “the same institutions that rushed to punish Russia have chosen silence when it comes to the Israeli regime’s atrocities.”