FIFA under pressure to sanction Israel for settlement games
A powerful report by Human Rights Watch on the eve of a FIFA meeting forces the global soccer association to act against Israeli settlement teams.
The world’s leading soccer association is under pressure by the world’s leading human rights organization to live up to its own rules and ethical guidelines.
A well-researched study, which included aerial photos, by Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on Sept. 25 for six clubs of the Israeli Football Association (IFA) to stop playing its home games in soccer fields built on Palestinian lands. Pointing to an Oct. 11 FIFA meeting, HRW described the Israeli actions to be against international humanitarian law.
HRW called settlements “illegal” and said that they are built on “stolen” and “seized” Palestinian lands in the occupied West Bank.
Under the headline “Israel/Palestine: FIFA Sponsoring Games on Seized Land,” the HRW report states that “Israeli settlement football clubs contribute to human rights violations.”
