Calls to ban Israel from international sports because of the Israel-Hamas war have grown louder than ever in recent weeks, with a new petition gaining significant support, a letter to the European Parliament and an agreement between Israeli and Irish basketball players. The spat is raising serious questions about major sports. events and organizations.
The petition, by the European Democratic Movement 2025, calls for Israel to suspend sports activities and has gathered more than 70,000 signatures as of February 16th. Also, with the Paris Olympics starting in July and Israeli men's soccer players facing the playoffs in March, sports administrators are making decisions in order to qualify for the European Championships in Germany in June. I'm under pressure.
Katarina Pijetrović, one of the petition's co-sponsors, believes it is time for bodies such as the International Olympic Committee (IOC), world soccer governing body FIFA and its European counterpart UEFA to intervene. .
“The real purpose of the petition is to put pressure on the Israeli government from the sports side as well,” Pijetrović told DW. He plans to send a letter to sports governance bodies.
call for action
The document was announced in a letter tweeted by Irish MEP Chris McManus and signed by several other MEPs, urging FIFA, UEFA and “all other competent authorities” We are asking you to take action.
This follows a similar message from the 12-member West Asian Football Federation (WAFF), led by Prince Ali bin Al Hussein, Prince of Jordan and President of the Football Association. UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin admitted that his organization had “not yet decided on a final position” but was “receiving more and more questions”. Additionally, 300 Palestinian sports clubs called on the IOC to exclude Israel from the Olympics.
More than 28,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, and Israel faces accusations of genocide.
Israel has insisted it has the right to defend itself after more than 1,200 people were killed in Israel on October 7 by Palestinian Islamist Hamas and other groups. Israel has since carried out extensive military operations in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. – Recognized as a terrorist organization by the German government, the EU and the US.
Pijetrović compared Israel's actions to those of Russia, whose invasion of Ukraine in 2022 led to widespread bans from international sports.
“As of the fourth day, if we just compare the numbers, 14 children have become victims of war in Ukraine, which is 14 too many. But now, in this invasion or invasion, about 14,000 Palestinians have died. People's children are dying.'' Gaza and no action, no condemnation from FIFA, UEFA, IOC or anyone else.
“I think the international response to that (Russian) invasion was very different from what we're seeing now.”
double standard?
Israeli soccer players are currently playing at neutral venues due to safety concerns. However, FIFA and other major organizations cling to the idea that sport and politics are separate.
Niv Goldstein, CEO of the Israel Football Association, told Sky News: “I trust FIFA to keep politics out of football. We don't want politicians to get involved in football. “I am against getting involved in political issues related to sports in general.”
It's a difficult balance to strike when representing a country. “It's very difficult to separate from this situation (war),” the footballer said Eran Zahavi. “We are here to represent Israel in the best possible way. The easy solution is not to play, but we want to make the whole country really happy.”
But Pijetrović believes sports organizations are showing double standards. Officially, the legal reason for Russia's suspension of sports activities after the invasion of Ukraine was security, but it is widely accepted as a sanction.
“The people who said we should take politics out of sports are now saying that. They weren't saying that at the time[when Russia invaded Ukraine]. 'Sentiment was not that high at the time, that security was one of their main concerns, even though it was public knowledge,' she said.
“In order to keep the event safe, that is out of the question, especially since UEFA insists that there is no way they can provide security even by playing in neutral territory, which they currently allow Israel to do. But I can play, and now I'm giving it to Israel.”
According to Pijetrović, an expert on sports law, the fact that Israeli settlers are building and playing sports on Palestinian land in violation of international law is another argument for banning or boycotting Israeli sports. This is one factor.
These are not the first calls to ban sporting events in Israel, with BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) groups calling for a ban on the Olympics in 2012 and 2016, many with little success. . More recently, six Irish basketball players refused to play against Israel in the women's tournament earlier this month, while the rest of the Irish team refused to shake hands with Israeli players during the EuroBasket 2025 qualifiers in Riga. did.
Basketball queue highlights problems
Before the game, the Israel Basketball Association released an interview with Dr Sarr in which she made allegations of anti-Semitism within the Irish team. Basketball Ireland responded with a statement calling the comments “inflammatory and completely inaccurate”. She said the federation cannot boycott the match for fear of sanctions.
Former Ireland player and pro-Palestinian activist Rebecca O'Keeffe told DW that players who played in recent games against Israel are in an unenviable position. She believes sports bodies, including basketball's FIBA, should impose the ban, and if nothing changes between now and the return game in Dublin in November, she will “renew calls to boycott” the game. He said he was deaf.
“FIBA has acted before. They immediately took out Belarus and Russia, so there is a precedent here. Israel always seems to act with impunity, and this is an example of that. We're calling on FIBA and our governing bodies, our national institutions, to act.'At this point, it's about upholding their own rules, their own standards, their own obligations. ”
Mr O'Keeffe was one of 350 athletes to sign an open letter from Irish Sport for Palestine calling for the Israeli sport to be banned, but at the time of the killing of civilians in the Gaza Strip. We believe that the suspension of any sporting activities should have been imposed immediately.
“I called for this boycott in October. I called on FIBA to build on precedent and exclude Israel from international competitions. Decisive action is lacking.”
Editor: Matt Pearson
