10 Reasons Not to Play Israeli Football
World Cup Willy | 30.03.2015 17:26 | Anti-racism | Palestine
The latest round of European Championship qualifiers see Wales and Belgium playing Israel and the launch of a new campaign: Fair Play for Palestine – Don’t Play Israeli Apartheid, calling for action against Israel for its sabotage of Palestinian football under the occupation and siege of Gaza.
There will be protests at FIFA’s congress in Zurich May 28-29 and a protest and rally is planned in Cardiff for the Wales v Israel return leg on September 6.
In the meantime here’s
There will be protests at FIFA’s congress in Zurich May 28-29 and a protest and rally is planned in Cardiff for the Wales v Israel return leg on September 6.
In the meantime here’s
10 REASONS NOT TO PLAY ISRAELI FOOTBALL
1. Israel routinely targets, detains and in some cases kills footballers, from kids playing on the beach, young players travelling to and from matches, to top international players. Palestinian international Mahmoud Sarsak was imprisoned without charge after travelling from Gaza to play football in the West Bank in 2009. He spent nearly 3 years in prison and was only released after a 3 month hunger strike and a high profile international campaign supported by the likes of Eric Cantona and Frederic Kanoute.
2. Israel deliberately targets sports facilities including football clubs and stadiums. It destroyed the national stadium in Gaza in 2006, and again the rebuilt sports stadium and Paralympic HQ in 2012. At least 30 sports facilities were completely destroyed in the military bombardment of Gaza in 2014, according to Palestinian government.
3. Israel does all it can to obstruct the building and operation of any new sports facilities in the occupied territories and through the siege on Gaza prevents the transport of materials for rebuilding facilities it has destroyed. Plans for a new stadium in Hebron were abandoned due to its closeness to an Israeli highway built on Palestinian land for Israeli traffic only.
4. Israel has banned Palestinian football clubs and attempted to criminalise Palestinians for organising football where they live. One area the Israelis have particularly targeted is the Silwan neighbourhood in East Jerusalem where Israel is making a concerted attempt to forcibly remove the Palestinian population and have banned clubs such as Islami Silwan and Nadi Silwan in their efforts to dismantle all aspects of community organisation and resistance.
5. Travel restrictions imposed by Israel on all Palestinians impact on the national mens and womens teams and any local competitions. The Palestine national team has gone short of players when players from the West Bank, East Jerusalem and particularly Gaza have been prevented from travelling.
6. Israel applies political pressure to try and stop countries and club teams playing their Palestinian counterparts - attempts to organise friendlies with Zambia and Central Africa Republic in 2011 came to nothing after Israeli interference. Last year the IDF made use of its role as the occupying military force by raiding the Palestine FA headquarters in the West Bank.
7. The Israeli FA has failed to act on anti-Arab racism associated with certain clubs, particularly Beitar Jerusalem (Netanyahu’s favourite team), which has a long-standing policy of not signing Arab players. When two muslim Chechen footballers were signed in 2013 the hardcore support’s successful tactics to get rid of them included arson. Beitar fans chant of “Death to the Arabs” hardly squares with FIFA’s mission to ensure “everybody has the right to play football free from discrimination or prejudice”.
8. Teams from illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied territories, such as Beitar Ironi Ma’ale Adumim, compete in Israeli FA competitions. This is part of the process of annexing these racially exclusive settlements to Israel in breach of international law.
9. Segregation has occurred in children’s football in Israel with neighbouring Jewish and Arab teams in the ‘Triangle’ area, home to the majority of Israel’s Palestinian citizens, re-organised along racial lines.
10. Israel was chosen to host international tournaments, the men’s European u-21’s in 2013 and the women’s European u-19’s competition in 2015, further stepping stones in its integration with the world football hierarchy. In this period it launched its third military onslaught on the Gaza Strip in the space of 6 years, killing thousands of civilians and continued its settlement building programme on Palestinian land.
Sources: Red Card Israeli Racism, Mondoweiss, Electronic Intifada, Middle East Monitor, FIFA, Inside World Football
1. Israel routinely targets, detains and in some cases kills footballers, from kids playing on the beach, young players travelling to and from matches, to top international players. Palestinian international Mahmoud Sarsak was imprisoned without charge after travelling from Gaza to play football in the West Bank in 2009. He spent nearly 3 years in prison and was only released after a 3 month hunger strike and a high profile international campaign supported by the likes of Eric Cantona and Frederic Kanoute.
2. Israel deliberately targets sports facilities including football clubs and stadiums. It destroyed the national stadium in Gaza in 2006, and again the rebuilt sports stadium and Paralympic HQ in 2012. At least 30 sports facilities were completely destroyed in the military bombardment of Gaza in 2014, according to Palestinian government.
3. Israel does all it can to obstruct the building and operation of any new sports facilities in the occupied territories and through the siege on Gaza prevents the transport of materials for rebuilding facilities it has destroyed. Plans for a new stadium in Hebron were abandoned due to its closeness to an Israeli highway built on Palestinian land for Israeli traffic only.
4. Israel has banned Palestinian football clubs and attempted to criminalise Palestinians for organising football where they live. One area the Israelis have particularly targeted is the Silwan neighbourhood in East Jerusalem where Israel is making a concerted attempt to forcibly remove the Palestinian population and have banned clubs such as Islami Silwan and Nadi Silwan in their efforts to dismantle all aspects of community organisation and resistance.
5. Travel restrictions imposed by Israel on all Palestinians impact on the national mens and womens teams and any local competitions. The Palestine national team has gone short of players when players from the West Bank, East Jerusalem and particularly Gaza have been prevented from travelling.
6. Israel applies political pressure to try and stop countries and club teams playing their Palestinian counterparts - attempts to organise friendlies with Zambia and Central Africa Republic in 2011 came to nothing after Israeli interference. Last year the IDF made use of its role as the occupying military force by raiding the Palestine FA headquarters in the West Bank.
7. The Israeli FA has failed to act on anti-Arab racism associated with certain clubs, particularly Beitar Jerusalem (Netanyahu’s favourite team), which has a long-standing policy of not signing Arab players. When two muslim Chechen footballers were signed in 2013 the hardcore support’s successful tactics to get rid of them included arson. Beitar fans chant of “Death to the Arabs” hardly squares with FIFA’s mission to ensure “everybody has the right to play football free from discrimination or prejudice”.
8. Teams from illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied territories, such as Beitar Ironi Ma’ale Adumim, compete in Israeli FA competitions. This is part of the process of annexing these racially exclusive settlements to Israel in breach of international law.
9. Segregation has occurred in children’s football in Israel with neighbouring Jewish and Arab teams in the ‘Triangle’ area, home to the majority of Israel’s Palestinian citizens, re-organised along racial lines.
10. Israel was chosen to host international tournaments, the men’s European u-21’s in 2013 and the women’s European u-19’s competition in 2015, further stepping stones in its integration with the world football hierarchy. In this period it launched its third military onslaught on the Gaza Strip in the space of 6 years, killing thousands of civilians and continued its settlement building programme on Palestinian land.
Sources: Red Card Israeli Racism, Mondoweiss, Electronic Intifada, Middle East Monitor, FIFA, Inside World Football
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