Sport teams, civil society and other organizations are invited to support the following statement:

Both Israel and the State of Palestine are members of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) and subject to its internal regulations.

Israel has violated the principles of FIFA in a variety of ways that would normally warrant disciplinary actions and even a suspension of its membership. However, the politics of FIFA have prevented the organization in the past from taking such action. Its internal by-laws have even been amended to make it more difficult for the Palestine Football Association (PFA) to demand such action. Consequently, it is now the responsibility of civil society to apply the popular pressure necessary to bring this about.

In the past, it has also been the policy of FIFA to punish any raising of Palestinian flags by players and clubs who are not Palestinian, on the basis that “politics and sports should not mix.”

Our objections include:

A) The Israel Football Association (IFA) allows players, and even five clubs from the illegal Israeli settlements (legally under the jurisdiction of Palestine), to play in their national league without first obtaining permission from the Palestinian Football Association (PFA). This is a straightforward violation of FIFA regulations that must be addressed.

B) Israel, by means of its military administration and control of the Occupied Palestinian Territories, has taken a number of measures that harm the sport of football, including:

-International travel restrictions on Palestinian players and coaches
-Restricting the movement of football players between Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem
-Refusal to allow the building of stadiums and facilities in Area C of the West Bank, the only viable location for such facilities
-Failing to release Palestinian sports equipment from Israeli customs, as Israel controls all borders
-Administrative arrests of footballers and attacks upon, including the tear-gassing of, sports events

C) Finally, we object to the prevalence of blatantly racist sloganeering (“Death to Arabs”) and anti-Arab violence associated with IFA games. This runs counter to FIFA’s stated goal of confronting racism.

Our demand is simple:

FIFA must sanction the Israel Football League until the above objections have been resolved.

See organizations that have signed: https://www.justpeaceadvocates.ca/fifa/

See for translations in Arabic, Spanish, French and Portuguese: https://www.justpeaceadvocates.ca/fifa/

Individual athletes, artists, academic, activists and others can endorse at: https://bit.ly/ApartheidFreeFIFAIndiv