UN experts urge Fifa and Uefa to suspend Israel | OneFootball

Independent UN specialists made an appeal on Tuesday for both FIFA and UEFA to suspend Israel due to its offensive in Gaza, but they oppose sanctions against the country's football players.

"Sports bodies should not turn a blind eye to serious human rights violations," the three special rapporteurs and members of the Working Group on Business and Human Rights denounced in a statement.

"National teams representing states that commit massive human rights violations can and should be suspended, as has happened in the past," they insisted.

These experts, who do not represent the United Nations, believe that the suspension of Israel is "a necessary response to the ongoing genocide."

On September 16, for the first time, an international investigation commission mandated by the UN accused Israel of committing "genocide" in Gaza since October 2023 with the intention of "destroying" the Palestinians, in a context of growing international rejection of the Israeli offensive.

The independent UN experts believe that the leaders of international sports organizations "cannot remain neutral in the face of genocide."

However, they clarified that the boycott "should target the State of Israel and not the players individually" and therefore should not "punish players based on their origin or nationality."

Calls to suspend the Israeli team from all competitions are multiplying. A few days ago, former French player Eric Cantona criticized the double standard of football bodies: "Four days after the start of the war in Ukraine, FIFA and UEFA suspended Russia. We are now 716 days after the start of what Amnesty International calls genocide, and Israel continues to participate. Why this double standard?"

"FIFA and UEFA must suspend Israel. Clubs should refuse to play against Israeli teams," Cantona added.

The day after the chaotic final of the Tour of Spain in Madrid, the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, also called for Israel to be excluded from sports competitions "as long as the barbarity continues" in Gaza.

Sánchez is one of the most critical voices in Europe regarding the offensive implemented by the Israeli government in Gaza, launched in response to the attacks of October 7, 2023 orchestrated by Hamas, in which 1,219 people died, mostly civilians.

Israel's response has caused the death of more than 65,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the Health Ministry of the Hamas government, figures that the UN considers reliable.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.