FIFA seeks legal advice on Palestinian proposal to ban Israel from international football | World

BANGKOK (AP) — Faced with a Palestinian proposal to bar Israel from international soccer over its conflict with Hamas, FIFA bought time Friday by agreeing to seek legal advice before holding an extraordinary council meeting within two months.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino presented the plan to 211 member associations after the leaders of the Palestinian and Israeli football associations spoke at the governing body’s annual congress in Bangkok.

“Due to the obvious sensitivity of this matter, FIFA will immediately engage independent legal experts to analyze and evaluate the three applications submitted by the Palestinian Football Association and to ensure that FIFA’s statutes and regulations are correctly applied to ensure a fair and due process said Infantino.

“This legal assessment must take into account submissions and claims from both member associations. The findings and recommendations… will be forwarded to the FIFA Council.”

“Due to the urgency of the situation, an extraordinary FIFA Council will be convened before July 20 to examine the results of the legal assessment and take the appropriate decisions.”

The Palestinian Football Association has spoken at a FIFA congress at least five times since 2014 without achieving desired progress.

Palestinian football’s problems with Israel this decade have included travel restrictions on its players, the Israeli league, which included teams from West Bank settlements, and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

In the last decade, under two different presidents, FIFA has postponed a vote or decision or set up a working group to report back at a later meeting.

The Palestinian Football Association’s proposal to 211 member associations called for “appropriate sanctions with immediate effect against Israeli teams” and was announced in FIFA documents released last month.

The request mentioned “violations of international law by the Israeli occupation in Palestine, particularly in Gaza” and cited FIFA’s legal obligations on human rights and against discrimination.

The Palestinian Football Association wrote that “all football infrastructure in Gaza was either destroyed or seriously damaged, including the historic Al-Yarmuk stadium.”

On Friday, Palestinian football leader Jibril Rajoub told the congress: “The Palestinian people, including the Palestinian football family, are experiencing an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.”

He said 193 footballers were among the thousands of Palestinians who died in the ongoing war that erupted with Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel on October 7.

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures, more than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war. About 80% of Gaza’s population has been displaced from their homes.

Rajoub, who said he had been threatened over his sanctions proposal, urged FIFA delegates not to postpone the vote.

“The Israeli foreign minister has seriously threatened to imprison me if I do not withdraw this proposal, but no power in the world can stand in the way of the truth,” Rajoub said.

But Infantino said the matter could not come to a full vote by all members on Friday because it would have to be dealt with by FIFA’s governing council.

“I don’t want to divide our 211 member states,” he said. “As president, I have a responsibility to apply FIFA’s statutes and regulations, regardless of my personal beliefs on these and other terrible matters around the world.”

He said at the FIFA Council meeting on Wednesday, all 37 members unanimously agreed to condemn the violence that took place and decided to send a strong message of solidarity.

“The FIFA Council also reaffirmed that football should not and never become hostage to politics and always … remain a force for good that unites people rather than dividing them,” Infantino said.

Friday’s meeting was attended by delegates from Russia, whose national and club teams have been banned from international competitions since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

FIFA and UEFA’s legal argument was that the refusal of other European teams to play against Russians would lead to chaos in the competitions.

Israel has participated in UEFA competitions as a member since 1994 and no European association has refused to enter its teams.

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