Palestinian motion on sanctioning Israel's football association deferred as FIFA seeks legal advice at 2024 Congress
World football's governing body has postponed a vote on a motion to temporarily suspend Israel over its actions in the conflict with Hamas.
Both the Palestinian and Israeli football federations spoke at FIFA's annual congress in Bangkok on Friday.
The Palestinian motion notes "international law violations committed by the Israeli occupation in Palestine, particularly in Gaza" and cites FIFA statutory commitments on human rights and against discrimination as grounds for action.
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If adopted unamended, it would also ban the Israeli Football Association's (IFA) direct and indirect members from any football related activity falling under governance of FIFA with immediate effect.
Palestine Football Association head Jibril Rajoub — who is also the head of Palestine's National Olympic Committee — claimed Israel has systematically violated FIFA's objectives.
He said these violations included "The Israeli Football Association's inclusion in its national league of illegal settlement clubs located in the occupied Palestinian territories".
"The numerous committees to address these issues have either failed to provided effective resolutions or have not reported back to the congress that mandated them," he said.
"The Israeli minister of foreign affairs has made serious threats to imprison me if I do not withdraw this proposal, but no power in the world can stand in the way of truth."
He then waved a piece of paper which he claimed was proof of this threat.
Rajoub said among those killed since October 7 were 282 athletes, 193 of them footballers.
The president of the Asian Football Confederation, Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, of which Football Australia is a part, gave his backing to Palestine's proposal.
It has been reported Australia will abstain if the motion is eventually brought to the whole 211-nation congress for vote.
In response to Rajoub, the head of the IFA, Shino Moshe Zuares, said he would not take part in a competition of "whose suffering is greater".
He said football matches can still not be held in large parts of Israel because of the conflict.
"It is injustice that even in these circumstances we have to fight for our basic right to be part of the game," he said.
"I believe football must be a key element of healing the fractures and the wounds, helping us to recover.
"Yet once again we are facing a cynical, political and hostile attempt by the Palestinian association to harm Israeli football.
"Make no mistake, the IFA never violated rules set by UEFA or FIFA and will never do so in the future."
President Gianni Infantino said FIFA would now seek independent legal advice on the proposal.
“This legal assessment will have to allow for inputs and claims of both member associations. The results and the recommendations … will be forwarded to the FIFA council," he said.
"Due to the urgency of the situation, an extraordinary FIFA Council will be convened and will take place before July 25 to review the results of the legal assessment and to take the decisions that are appropriate."
The last country to be sanctioned by FIFA was Russia, after its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Russia did not play the World Cup that year despite qualifying and withdrew its teams from all international football competitions.
With AP, Reuters
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