FIFA TO SEEK LEGAL ADVICE ON PALESTINIAN PROPOSAL TO SUSPEND ISRAEL FROM INTERNATIONAL SOCCER

 BANGKOK (AP) — Facing a Palestinian proposal to suspend Israel from international soccer because of the conflict with Hamas, FIFA bought time Friday by agreeing to seek legal advice before holding an extraordinary council meeting within two months.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino outlined the plan to 211 member federations after leaders of the Palestinian and Israel soccer bodies spoke at the governing body's annual congress in Bangkok.

“Now, due to the obvious sensitivity of these matters, FIFA will mandate as of now independent legal expertise to analyze and assess the three requests made by the Palestinian Football Association and ensure that the statutes and regulations of FIFA are applied in the correct way in order to ensure a fair and due process,” Infantino said.

"This legal assessment will have to allow for inputs and claims of both member associations. The results and the recommendations ... will be forwarded to the FIFA council.

“Due to the urgency of the situation, an extraordinary FIFA Council will be convened and will take place before July 20 to review the results of the legal assessment and to take the decisions that are appropriate.”

The Palestinian soccer federation has now spoken at a FIFA Congress at least five times since 2014 without making the progress it wants.

Palestinian soccer's issues with Israel in that decade have included travel restrictions on its players, the Israeli league including teams from West Bank settlements, and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

In the past 10 years, FIFA under two different presidents has deferred a vote or decision, or created a working group to report back at a later meeting.

The Palestine Football Association proposal to 211 member federations called for “appropriate sanctions, with immediate effect, against Israeli teams" and was forecast in FIFA documents released last month.

The motion noted “international law violations committed by the Israeli occupation in Palestine, particularly in Gaza” and cited FIFA statutory commitments on human rights and against discrimination.

The Palestinian FA wrote that “all the football infrastructure in Gaza has been either destroyed, or seriously damaged, including the historic stadium of Al-Yarmuk.”

On Friday at the congress, Palestinian soccer's leader Jibril Rajoub said “the Palestinian people, including the Palestinian football family, are enduring an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.”

He said 193 footballers were among the thousands of Palestinians to die in the ongoing war which erupted Oct. 7 with Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel.

More than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures. About 80% of Gaza’s population have been driven from their homes.

Rajoub, who said he had been threatened because of his sanctions proposal, urged FIFA delegates not to delay the vote.

“The Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs has made serious threats to imprison me if I do not withdraw this proposal, but no power in the world can stand in the way of truth,” Rajoub said.

But Infantino said the matter couldn't go to a full vote of the membership on Friday because it had to be dealt with by FIFA’s governing council.

“I do not want to divide our 211 member countries,” he said. “I have a responsibility as president to apply the statutes of FIFA and its regulations, whatever my personal conviction on these and other terrible matters around the world.”

He said at the FIFA council meeting on Wednesday, all 37 members unanimously agreed to condemn the acts of violence that have taken place and decided to send a strong message of solidarity.

“The FIFA Council also reiterated that football should not and should never become a hostage of politics and always remain ... a force of good uniting people rather than dividing,” Infantino said.

The meeting Friday included delegates from Russia, whose national and club teams have been suspended from international competitions since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The legal argument put by FIFA and UEFA was the refusal of other European teams to play Russians would cause chaos in competitions.

Israel has played in UEFA competitions as a member since 1994 and no European federation has refused to play its teams.

TURKEY CHARGES ISRAELI SOCCER PLAYER WITH INSISTING HATRED FOR SHOWING SOLIDARITY WITH GAZA HOSTAGES

AP

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish authorities on Monday charged Israeli soccer player Sagiv Jehezkel with inciting hatred after he expressed solidarity with people held hostage by the Hamas militant organization during a top-flight league game. He was released from custody pending trial.

The Antalyaspor player had been detained for questioning late Sunday after he displayed a bandage on his wrist with the words “100 Days 7.10” — in reference to Oct. 7, the day Hamas attacked Israel and the hostages were abducted — next to a Star of David.

The 28-year-old Israeli international told police he was simply calling for an end to the war.

Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said late Sunday that Jehezkel was under investigation for “openly inciting the public to hatred and hostility.” Tunc maintained in a statement posted on X that Jehezkel had engaged in “an ugly gesture in support of the Israeli massacre in Gaza.”

The gesture was deemed to be provocative in Turkey where there is widespread public opposition to Israel’s military actions in Gaza and overwhelming support for the Palestinians.

Antalyaspor suspended Jehezkel from the team and announced that it was speaking to the club’s lawyers about the possibility of terminating his contract.

The player was expected to return to Israel later in the day on a private jet together with members of his family, private NTV television reported.

ISRAELI-HAMAS WAR WONT AFFECT PARIS 2024 SECURITY PLANS - ESTANGUET

IOC Mumbai. Reuters 

The war between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas will not affect the security plans for next year's Olympic Games in France, the chief of the organising committee for the Paris 2024 Olympics said on Monday.

There have been protests in recent days with the country being home to Europe's largest Muslim and Jewish communities. France was put on its highest security alert on Friday after a teacher was killed in an Islamist attack.

French President Emmanuel Macron also deployed up to 7,000 soldiers for increased security patrols, as bomb alerts forced the evacuation of the Louvre museum. The Middle East conflict has often stoked domestic tensions in the past.

FIFA PRESIDENT INFANTINO OFFERS CONDOLENCES TO IN LETTER TO ISRAEL AND PALESTINE FA'S

Reuters 

FIFA president Gianni Infantino wrote to the Israel and Palestine Football Associations on Friday, offering his condolences over the "horrendous violence" in the past week in a conflict that has taken over 2,700 lives so far.

Hamas militants killed more than 1,300 Israelis in their attack on Saturday. In response, Israeli air strikes have killed more than 1,400 people in Gaza so far, authorities there said.

PALESTINE FOOTBALL TEAM QUITS MALAYSIA CUP OVER ISRAEL-GAZA CONFLICT

AFP

KUALA LUMPUR: The Palestine football team has pulled out of a tournament in Malaysia, the Southeast Asian nation's football association said on Tuesday (Oct 10), citing the conflict between Israel and Hamas militants.

Israel has been left reeling by an unprecedented attack by Hamas militants who stormed the Gaza border under a barrage of rocket fire last Saturday morning and killed more than 900 people.

In response, Israel has imposed a total siege on the coastal enclave and is carrying out a massive air and artillery bombardment of Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip that has so far killed at least 687 people.