13 MEPs sent a letter to FIFA and UEFA, requesting the expulsion of Israeli teams, including its national football team, from participating in European and international competitions, according to a Monday report by IRNA.
“We, as MEPs and political representatives of the people of Europe, call on FIFA, UEFA, and other competent bodies to take decisive action against the continuing human rights violations in Palestine,” the letter said.
“The indiscrimination killing of civilians, the blockade of humanitarian aid, or the destruction of infrastructure -- which also affects players, referees, public servants, and sports facilities -- is a crime that we cannot ignore”, it continued.
“Both FIFA and UEFA, claim to promote the values of equality, respect, and human rights through football. All of these are undoubtedly being violated in Gaza today”, the letter added.
“Football cannot contribute to legitimize the occupation and extermination of the Palestinian people. For all these reasons, and following historical examples such as the veto applies to the apartheid in South Africa, we call for an immediate expulsion, as a measure of pressure, of the Israeli national team and the rest of the Israeli teams from all European and international competitions until this genocide ends.”
“Sport cannot serve as a display for those who violate the most essential rights of an entire population,” the MEPs concluded in their letter.
The European lawmakers representing Spain, Ireland, Belgium and Germany put their names at the end of the letter which they sent to the aforementioned international bodies on February 15.
The Israeli regime unleashed its war on Gaza on October 7, killing more than 29,000 people in the besieged Palestinian territory so far, mostly women and children.
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