Gaza War: UN experts are calling for Israel’s exclusion of football tournaments

According to a claim of several experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, Israel is to be excluded from participating in international football events. They called on the FIFA World Federation Association and the European Football Union UEFA to take the appropriate steps. In her opinion, this is necessary in response to Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, where hundreds of thousands of civilians are on the run.

The sport should not give the impression that everything is the same, the independent rapporteurs said. “Sports associations must not look away with serious human rights violations,” they write.

Israel always rejects all allegations within the framework of the UN Human Rights Council. The country accuses the Council and its rapporteurs to be biased against Israel.

IOC sees a different situation than in Russia

The call is signed by eight experts, including the rapporteurs for cultural rights, for the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian areas and on the subject of racism. They refer to the report of the Investigation Commission of the Human Rights Council, which came to the conclusion last week that Israel commits genocide in the Gaza Strip.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) had already rejected sanctions against Israel the previous week. There was no violation of the Olympic Charter, it said. In the sanctions against Russian athletes because of the war in Ukraine, the IOC had mentioned violations of the Olympic Charter. Russia’s Olympic committee is still suspended.