Attention: FIFA Executive Committee Members
cc: Mr. Michel Platini, President of UEFA
Re: Give credibility to FIFA’s antiracism stance
Dear FIFA Executive Committee Members,
It is with trust in the consistency of the highest institution of world football that we write this letter.
We join FIFA President Sepp Blatter (1) and Asian Football Conference (AFC) President Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa in condemning the latest in a series of Israeli aggressions against Palestinian football. On Monday, November 24, the Israeli army raided and searched the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) headquarters.
We stress, together with the AFC President, that this aggression is "a dangerous precedent that requires the international sporting family to stand together and support the PFA in standing up to the systematic violations of the Israeli authorities." (2)
This latest episode comes just one month after the grave and racist decision by the Youth League of the Israel Football Association (IFA) to separate 12 teams of Jewish children from 13 teams of Palestinian children in the Shomoron area following pressure from Jewish families and clubs. An act that further reinforces the prejudices Palestinian citizens of Israel are forced to endure. (3)
Considering the numerous attempts by FIFA to rein in Israel’s oppressive policies towards Palestinian football, the failure to achieve a Memorandum of Understanding between the IFA and the PFA and the racist choices made by the IFA, we call on FIFA
- to be consistent with its antiracist values and principles, demonstrated by the recent suspension of the Italian Football Federation’s president from Uefa (4);
- to finally give credence to the 2010 ultimatum issued by UEFA President Platini on Israel’s failure to respect laws and regulations on freedom of movement of players (5) by condemning the IFA and deciding at the next FIFA Executive Committee meeting on December 19 to suspend the IFA from FIFA until Israel respects the right of Palestinians to play sports and ceases to impede the practice of competitive sports.
Yours sincerely,
Red Card Israeli Apartheid - Italy
1 http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=27143
2 http://www.worldfootballinsider.com/Story.aspx?id=37402
3 http://adalah.org/eng/Articles/2337/Adalah-petitions-District-Court-on-behalf-of-a-of-in
4 http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/early-lead/wp/2014/10/07/uefa-bans-italian-soccer
5 http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/sports/soccer-arab-press-uefa-mulls-banning-israel
Red Card Israeli Apartheid is an international campaign of sports boycott, part of the more general campaign launched in 2005 by Palestinian civil society, which calls on international civil society to apply Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel until it recognizes the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.
The Red Card campaign’s current goal is the suspension of the Israel Football Association (IFA) from FIFA (there are over 18,000 signatures on an international online petition).