If you think football shouldn’t support genocide, tell FIFA to ban Israel

Despite Israel committing genocide in occupied Gaza for at least 19 months, international cultural institutions from FIFA to the Eurovision Song Contest have refused to ban the apartheid state from participating. This helps Israel to ‘sportswash‘ and ‘artwash‘ its heinous war crimes against Palestinians.

FIFA must ban Israel

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign has called on people to:

Take action in advance of the upcoming FIFA Congress on 15 May by e-mailing the UK’s Football Associations represented at the Congress, along with the FIFA President and Secretary General, to ask that they ensure genocidal Israel is banned.

And it insists that FIFA should stop giving Israel:

a platform to cynically present itself as a normal country, obscuring the truth that it is carrying out a genocide, and imposing a regime of settler-colonialism, military occupation and apartheid.

In has created a form that “only takes 2 minutes to complete” and allows people opposing Israel’s ongoing participation in FIFA events to write to the heads of the English, Scottish, and Welsh football associations, along with FIFA president Gianni Infantino and secretary general Mattias Grafström.

Take action ahead of the FIFA Congress on 15 May by e-mailing the UK’s Football Associations represented at the Congress, along with the FIFA President and Secretary General, to demand they act to ban genocidal Israel. (1/8)https://t.co/G4YhX4rNDu pic.twitter.com/VHuZIz27CW

— Palestine Solidarity Campaign (@PSCupdates) May 13, 2025

Israel has murdered “many hundreds of Palestinian footballers” and “annihilated Gaza’s footballing infrastructure”

In the suggested email, the group writes that a ban would be:

in line with FIFA’s obligations not to be complicit in Israel’s genocide, military occupation and apartheid against Palestinians.

And it points out that:

Israel’s genocide in Gaza has killed many tens, if not hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, including many hundreds of Palestinian footballers. It has annihilated Gaza’s footballing infrastructure such as stadiums, training facilities and pitches.

At the same time, it laments that FIFA has so far

ignored and sidelined the voices of Palestinian organisations, including the Palestinian Football Association, who are clear that the Israel Football Association must be banned.

FIFA’s double standards are clear, because it banned Russia “within days of invading Ukraine”. But as activist Coll McCail pointed out in a recent video:

the world’s terraces wave the Palestinian flag

Indeed, from football to Eurovision events, people have been consistently showing solidarity with Palestine. And that must extend to demanding all institutions hold Israel to account for its crimes by ending its attempts to use culture to whitewash its crimes. So if you have two minutes for a quick message to FIFA decision-makers, you know what to do.

Just last week, 70 former Eurovision contestants called for Israel and its national broadcaster to be excluded.

We must keep up the pressure to isolate Israeli apartheid. (8/8)https://t.co/txVF5H7Axp

— Palestine Solidarity Campaign (@PSCupdates) May 13, 2025

Featured image via the Canary