More than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza following Israel\u2019s ground invasion, according to local health officials<\/a>.<\/p>\n The United Kingdom, Canada and Australia confirmed on Sunday that they now formally recognize Palestinian statehood \u2014 a move with which President Trump said he disagreed. France announced its recognition of the state of Palestine on Monday.<\/p>\n What did the UN say?<\/p>\n On Tuesday, four members of the United Nations human rights council \u2014 independent human rights experts who are not employed by the UN or any government\u00a0 \u2014 called on FIFA and UEFA to suspend Israel from international soccer in response to the conflict in Gaza.<\/p>\n The human rights experts released their statement following an investigation into alleged violations of humanitarian and human rights law during the Israel-Gaza war. The UN\u2019s commission of inquiry concluded that \u201cthe Israeli authorities and Israeli security forces have the genocidal intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip\u201d \u2014 crimes under international law.<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s foreign ministry told the BBC<\/a> earlier this month that it rejected the report and described it as \u201cdistorted and false.\u201d<\/p>\n The report was published on Sept. 16 and the human rights experts released a statement on Tuesday, arguing that \u201csporting bodies must not turn a blind eye to grave human rights violations, especially when their platforms are used to normalise injustices.\u201d<\/p>\n The Israeli men\u2019s team before their European Championship 2024 play-off against Iceland last year (David Balogh \u2013 UEFA\/UEFA via Getty Images)<\/p>\n \u201cWe are clear that the boycott must be addressed to the State of Israel and not to individual players,\u201d they said. \u201cWe have always maintained that individuals cannot bear the consequences of the decisions their government makes, so there should be no discrimination or sanctions against individual players because of their origin or nationality.<\/p>\n \u201cNational teams representing states that commit massive human rights violations can and should be suspended, as has happened in the past (Russia is currently banned from global soccer due to the ongoing war in Ukraine).<\/p>\n \u201cWe urge FIFA to stop legitimising the situation arising from Israel\u2019s unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. There is a legal and moral imperative to take every measure possible to end the genocide in Gaza now.\u201d<\/p>\n When approached by\u00a0The Athletic\u00a0regarding the UN\u2019s statement on Wednesday, FIFA and UEFA declined to comment.<\/p>\n Has the issue been raised before?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n In April 2024<\/a>, the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) asked FIFA to suspend Israel from competition in a submission made before FIFA\u2019s 74th annual congress.<\/p>\n PFA president Jibril Rajoub spoke at the congress, calling on FIFA \u201cto stand on the right side of history\u201d and asking whether FIFA considers \u201csome wars to be more important than others and some victims to be more significant.\u201d An Israel Football Association (IFA) spokesperson had described the attempt to suspend the country as \u201cnothing but a cynical and shameless move.\u201d<\/p>\n FIFA did not suspend Israel but opened two investigations into alleged breaches of its statutes by Israeli football teams and authorities. The first was into whether teams from Israeli settlements in the West Bank competing in national Israeli competitions represent a breach of the FIFA statutes, and the second investigated allegations of discrimination by the IFA. The PFA has accused FIFA of failing to provide \u201cclarity or due process\u201d<\/a> with as yet no conclusion to the investigations.<\/p>\n The PFA again called for Israel\u2019s suspension at the 75th FIFA Congress in May. \u201cOur issue, sadly again, is stuck in a highly politicized bureaucratic holding pattern,\u201d said Susan Shalabi, vice president of the PFA.<\/p>\n In September, an IFA spokesperson said he was surprised Israel had yet to be suspended from international football.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m surprised we\u2019re still part of international tournaments. In many aspects, this is a miracle,\u201d Shlomi Barzel, head of the IFA\u2019s public relations department, told Israeli newspaper The Globes<\/a>. \u201cThe miracle can be explained by action on our part and a lot of tolerance on the part of FIFA and UEFA, but historically countries have been suspended for much less than that.\u201d<\/p>\n Why is UEFA involved?<\/strong><\/p>\n Israel has been a member of the European confederation UEFA since 1994.<\/p>\n Israel was a founding member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and won the 1964 Asian Cup. They were later excluded from AFC competitions in 1974 following a vote after a number of teams refused to play against them.<\/p>\n Israel now participates in the European section for qualification to the World Cup. While it has never qualified for the European Championship \u2014 the continental competition UEFA runs every four years \u2014 it reached the play-offs for Euro 2020 and Euro 2024.<\/p>\n Domestic Israeli teams also participate in UEFA club competitions, with Maccabi Tel Aviv competing in the league phase of this season\u2019s Europa League.<\/p>\n UEFA confirmed in October 2024<\/a> that no matches would take place in Israel \u201cuntil further notice\u201d in response to the Israel-Gaza war. The national team and club sides have played \u201chome\u201d UEFA competition fixtures elsewhere, including in Hungary, Cyprus and Poland.<\/p>\n UEFA\u2019s 55 member associations are meeting today (Thursday) at a regular gathering, although the issue of Israel\u2019s participation is not on the agenda. UEFA\u2019s next meeting of its 20-strong executive committee, the organisation\u2019s main decision-making body, is scheduled for Dec. 3, but president Aleksander Ceferin could call one sooner than that. Slovenia, where Ceferin is from, issued sanctions<\/a> against Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday.<\/p>\n Israel is due to play Norway and Italy away in World Cup qualifiers next month. Norway has already said<\/a> it will donate the proceeds from the game to the Doctors Without Borders charity working in Gaza.<\/p>\n What about Russia?<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-2102588491-scaled-e1712844611467.jpg\")
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