FIFA defers decision on call to suspend Israel

World football's governing body FIFA on Thursday gave no verdict either way on a Palestinian request to suspend Israel, but instead launched an investigation into allegations of discrimination.

At FIFA's congress in Bangkok in May, the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) called for its Israeli counterpart to be suspended and for Israeli teams to be banned from FIFA competitions.

The PFA claims that the Israel Football Association (IFA) has broken FIFA discrimination rules.

The accusation came seven months into Israel's war with Hamas in the Palestinian territory of Gaza.

FIFA was initially set to hold an extraordinary session of its ruling council before July 20 to review independent legal analysis and decide how to proceed.

However, the deadline was pushed back to give the legal experts more time to complete a report.

At the organisation's headquarters in Zurich on Thursday, the FIFA Council adopted the recommendations and conclusions reached in the legal analysis.

It decided that its disciplinary committee would be mandated to investigate the alleged offence of discrimination raised by the PFA.

Meanwhile the FIFA governance, audit and compliance committee "will be entrusted with the mission to investigate -- and subsequently advise the FIFA Council on -- the participation in Israeli competitions of Israeli football teams allegedly based in the territory of Palestine."

FIFA president Gianni Infantino said in a statement that "The FIFA Council has implemented due diligence on this very sensitive matter and, based on a thorough assessment, we have followed the advice of the independent experts.

"The ongoing violence in the region confirms that, above all considerations... we need peace.

"As we remain extremely shocked by what is happening, and our thoughts are with those who are suffering, we urge all parties to restore peace to the region with immediate effect."

- Sanctions call -

In Bangkok, PFA head Jibril Rajoub claimed that the Israeli FA had broken FIFA rules, adding: "FIFA cannot afford to remain indifferent to these violations."

He called for the "immediate" suspension of Israel from FIFA.

His Israeli counterpart Shino Moshe Zuares rejected the call as "cynical, political and hostile", insisting that the IFA had not broken any FIFA rules.

"The proposal submitted by the PFA has nothing to do with the IFA and its activity," he said, calling it an attempt to harm Israeli football, based on motives that had nothing to do with sport.

Israel has been at war with Hamas militants in Gaza for 11 months.

Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures that includes hostages killed in captivity.

Israel's retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed at least 41,788 people, the majority of them civilians, according to figures provided by the Hamas-run Palestinian territory's health ministry. The UN has described the figures as reliable.

Infantino refused to put to a vote the sanctions demanded by the PFA.

- UN experts wade in -

A group of UN experts on Thursday said that at least eight football clubs had developed or had been identified as playing in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, another Palestinian territory, with a ninth playing some home games in a settlement.

The experts said that the activity of those teams amounted to IFA tacitly contributing to "the unlawful presence of Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory.

"This is in stark violation of international law," they said.

They called on the FIFA Council "to ensure that its decisions are in conformity with non-derogable norms of international law".

They urged FIFA to ensure implementation of its zero-tolerance policy against discriminatory conduct and racism.

The experts included the UN special rapporteurs on cultural rights and on contemporary forms of racism, and members of the working group on human rights and transnational corporations.

UN experts are independent figures mandated by the Human Rights Council. They therefore do not speak for the United Nations.