THIS is with reference to the report ‘Israel must be suspended for violating FIFA statutes, human rights lawyers say’ (July 19). There could be no argument against banning the Zionist state for murdering over 40,000 Palestinians since October last year. Palestine Football Association (PFA) President Jibril Rajoub, in his address to the FIFA Congress in Bangkok, had stressed the need to ban Israel from all football-related activities for violating FIFA’s statutes amid the war where the Zionist state has been involved in a genocide of the Palestinians.

Russia was banned from the World Cup in Qatar by FIFA because of its military intervention in Ukraine, and it is unlikely that the country would be part of any global competition in the near future. However, there is no action by FIFA against Israel for its murderous campaign in Gaza, where it is involved in killing Palestinians.

We have often seen people in football stadiums around the world with Palestinian flags, showing solidarity with the people of Gaza. Should this not be enough proof of Israel’s crimes against humanity for FIFA? Or, being the governing body of a sport that is based in the West, FIFA, too, has chosen to shamelessly discriminate on the basis of geography and religion?

Nabeel Saleem
Hub

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2024