Activists campaign to suspend Israel from European football, calling for accountability for genocide.<\/p>\n
Calls for Israel\u2019s suspension from European football have been renewed a day after the ceasefire in Gaza came into effect and as the Israeli team has resumed its qualification campaign for the FIFA World Cup 2026.<\/p>\n
The human rights campaign group Game Over Israel urged UEFA on Saturday to suspend Israel until it ends its abuses against Palestinians.<\/p>\n
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With the ceasefire in Gaza<\/a> coming into effect on Friday, Ashish Prashar, a campaign director at Game Over Israel, stressed the need to hold Israel accountable for its conduct.<\/p>\n He said Israel has \u201cno place in international football\u201d after the horrors it unleashed on Gaza, which leading rights groups and United Nations investigators have described as a genocide<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cEven if bombs and bullets stop, genocide is a crime against humanity and perhaps the gravest crime a state or project can commit,\u201d Prashar told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n \u201cRemember what Europe did after World War II. Nazi Germany was suspended from football, and the Nuremberg trials took place.\u201d<\/p>\n Game Over Israel has been using billboards in major cities across the world to drive home that message. The latest billboard was revealed in Milan and addressed to UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin.<\/p>\n \u201cIsrael is committing genocide. Suspend Israel now. It\u2019s your moral obligation,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n The campaign also conveyed the same message in a full-page ad in the Los Angeles Times on Saturday.<\/p>\n From Times Square to MILAN \ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf9, football fans have had ENOUGH! \u203c\ufe0f\ud83d\ude21 Stop allowing football to sports-wash genocide. The world sees through it and we\u2019re demanding a full Israeli boycott across football. The Federations can\u2019t hide anymore. Suspend Israel.#GameOverIsrael<\/a> @UEFA<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/pbQSmn1pia<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 gameoverisrael (@gameover_israel) October 11, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n John Dugard, former UN special rapporteur on Palestine, said it remains legally necessary and urgent for UEFA to ban the Israel Football Association (IFA).<\/p>\n \u201cBy continuing to host Israeli teams, UEFA risks becoming complicit in the normalisation of war crimes,\u201d Dugard said in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cWe urge you to uphold the integrity of the sport and immediately suspend the IFA and all affiliated teams from UEFA competitions until Israel ends the genocide and its unlawful occupation, and fully complies with its obligations under international law.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to the atrocities in Gaza, Israel allows teams based in settlements in the occupied West Bank, which are illegal under international law, to compete in its professional leagues in violation of FIFA rules.<\/p>\n \u201cMember associations and their clubs may not play on the territory of another member association without the latter\u2019s approval,\u201d FIFA statutes read.<\/p>\n There is international consensus, backed by UN resolutions and International Court of Justice<\/a> opinions, that the West Bank is Palestinian territory illegally occupied by Israel.<\/p>\n Both FIFA and UEFA suspended Russia days after it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.<\/p>\n \u201cMass imprisonment is a red line. Systematic torture is a red line. Illegal occupation is a red line. Apartheid is a red line. And genocide is the reddest line of all,\u201d former UN official Craig Mokhiber said in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cIsrael has crossed too many of humanity\u2019s red lines to be granted a pass. To normalise this now would mean complicity in shepherding in a new era of horror for our world.\u201d<\/p>\n This month, more than 30 legal scholars<\/a> penned a letter to Ceferin emphasising the need to ban Israel.<\/p>\n Hundreds of Norwegian fans protested against Israel before their national team\u2019s game against Israel on Saturday, waving Palestinian flags and banners accusing Israel of apartheid and genocide.<\/p>\n The match ended in a thumping 5-0 win for Norway. Israel now sits in third spot in Group I of the UEFA qualifiers before its match against Italy on Tuesday and has a razor-thin chance of booking a playoff spot for the World Cup.<\/p>\n The United States, which will co-host next year\u2019s tournament alongside Canada and Mexico, has said it will block<\/a> any attempts to ban Israel from the World Cup should it qualify.<\/p>\n Israel has never qualified for the FIFA World Cup on a European quota. It did so in 1970 from Asia.<\/p>\n\n