AN APPEAL TO SUSPEND ISRAEL FROM PARTICIPATION IN INTERNATIONAL SPORTS
29 December 2023

Addressees:International Olympic Committee Executive Board
FIFA Council
UEFA Executive Committee
FIBA Board
FIBA Europe Board…and all other global and European sports governing bodies
1. Within hours after Russian invasion in Ukraine on 24 Feb 2022, FIFA, UEFA and IOC issued theirstatements of condemnation. Four days later, FIFA Council and UEFA Executive Committee issued
decisions to suspend all Russian teams, including juniors, from the international footballcompetitions for the actions of their government. UEFA cancelled its highly lucrative contracts with
Russian companies that sponsored it, IOC set up a solidarity fund for Ukraine, while FIFA, UEFA, andmany other organisations donated millions to Ukrainian sports. In line with the recommendations
from the resolution issued by the IOC Executive Board on 28 February 2022, FIBA suspended Russian
teams from international basketball. Other sports similarly followed the IOC Executive Board
recommendations. South Africa was banned from sports during the apartheid era, and in 2003, FIFAsuspended Azerbaijan for “unacceptable levels of external pressures”.
2. Following a swift response and an instant suspension of Russia, it is now exceptionally difficult forthe sports governing bodies to justify turning a blind eye to Israeli government’s actions. According
to Geneva-based Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor in the period from 7 Oct to 27 Dec, Israeli army
killed 26.706 civilians, including 11.422 infants and children and 5822 women in Gaza. The severity of
the attack on civilian population, children in particular, illustrated by these numbers alone issufficient to presume the relevant international laws and standards set in UN Resolutions (such as2444 (XXIII) of 19 December 1968 on respect for human rights and on basic principles for theprotection of civilian populations in armed conflicts) have been breached. Gaza has a population of
ca. 2.2 million people. For comparison, in Ukraine with population of ca. 40 million people, about
10.000 civilians were killed during 21 months of war, including ca. 560 children. In Occupied Territoryof Gaza, between 66 and 90 Palestinian journalists were killed, and they and their families weredeliberately targeted, while preventing foreign journalists to enter Gaza. In Ukraine, 17 journalists
were killed, most of them by Russian forces in 21 months. Between 7 Oct. and 28 Nov., WHO has
documented 427 attacks on healthcare in Gaza and West Bank resulting in 560 fatalities and 718
injured. This is 11 times higher rate of attacks on Ukrainian hospitals by Russian army in 21 months
and in a much larger country. Around 253.000 housing units have been damaged or madeuninhabitable and 52.000 destroyed during two months of attack on Gaza’s 365 km² territory,
amounting to 61% of total housing. At the same time, humanitarian aid to Occupied Territory of Gaza
is grossly insufficient or is not reaching people at all due to Israeli blockade, while civilians are unable
to leave. The Israeli government does not hide that keeping Gaza’s civilian population deprived offood, water, and basic medical supplies while the diseases rapidly spread, are used as a weapon ofwar. Most of Gaza’s population is now starving and living in inhumane conditions.

3. The bombing campaign, ground offensive, and other actions in Gaza Occupied Territory thatstarted on 7 Oct 2023 have violated dozens of international law and international humanitarian law
provisions.
EXAMPLES OF VIOLATION OF INTERNATIONAL LAW AND INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAWa) Preventing relief supplies and using starvation as a weapon of war is explicitly prohibited andconsidered a war crime under Article 8(2)(b)(xxv) of the Rome Statute of the ICC, Article 55 of
the Geneva Convention IV, Article 54(1) of the 1977 Additional Protocol I, and Customary Rule 53
of international humanitarian law. Secretary General of the UN has warned the Security Councilof the impending humanitarian catastrophe due to Israeli blockade of humanitarian aid.
b) Grave breaches of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Geneva Convention IV and First
Additional Protocol have been identified. For example, UNICEF has named Israeli attack on Gaza
“war on children” due to the unprecedented number of children being killed (an average of ca.
160 children per day). According to Human Rights Watch, Israel cut off the neonatal unit oxygen
supply, forced staff to evacuate, and left 5 babies to die alone – their decomposed bodies were
found during ceasefire. In a separate case, UN confirmed that six premature infants died in Al
Shifa hospital due to the cut in electricity and fuel supply by Israel. It is a war crime undermultiple provisions of Article 8 of the Rome Statute and a crime against humanity under Article
7.
c) Israel killed more UN workers in Gaza in two months than in any other war in UN history violating
Convention on the Safety of United Nations Personnel.
d) Doctors Without Borders reported casualties among their staff in a deliberate attack by Israeli
army. Such attacks against civilian personnel involved in a humanitarian assistance mission inaccordance with the UN Charter constitutes a war crime under multiple provisions of Article 8 of
the Rome Statute of the ICC, and a breach of Customary Rules 25, 26, 28, 29 and 30 of IHL.
e) Israel used white phosphorus in densely populated areas, inflicting deep-burn wounds to thecivilian population and causing respiratory difficulties. This is a war crime under Article
8(2)(b)(xvii) and (xviii) of the Rome Statute of the ICC, a crime against humanity under Article 7, abreach of Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Incendiary Weapons in civilian
areas and Customary Rule 70 of international humanitarian law.
f) Israel bombed over 200 UN-run schools, local schools and universities, hospitals (completely
disabling most of them and leaving others only partly functional), mills, bakeries, mosques,churches, Convent of Mother Theresa Nuns, Palace of Justice, public libraries, cultural heritage,refugee camps, and people who were evacuating to South Gaza following Israeli army orders.
These are crimes against humanity as per UN experts, war crimes under Art 8 of the Rome
Statutes, breaches of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Customary Rules 7
and 9 of international humanitarian law. Gaza zoo was also targeted and animals killed or died of
starvation.
g) On 15 October 2023, just 7 days into the attack on Gaza, 880 scholars and practitioners ofinternational law, conflict studies and genocide studies on genocide from all over the world
issued a statement and warned of “a serious risk of genocide”. On 28 Oct 2023, the Director of
the office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in New York called Israeli actions in Gaza“a textbook case of genocide”. Jewish Holocaust and Genocide academic, Raz Segal, and former
Chief Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, share the opinion that the actions of Israeli
government amount to genocide contrary to both Convention on the Prevention and Punishmentof the Crime of Genocide and Rome Statute.
● Genocidal language, which prove intent, was used from the start at all levels of Israeli
government: "There are no innocents in Gaza" (Avigdor Lieberman, leader of Yisrael Beiteinu

party, Knesset Member, and a former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence); “We
are dropping hundreds of tons of bombs on Gaza. The focus is on destruction, not accuracy”(the Spokesman for Israeli army); “The Children of Gaza have brought this upon themselves”(Knesset member Merav Ben-Ari). “There will be no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel.
[…] We are fighting against human animals, and we are acting accordingly” (Israeli Ministerof Defence); “I am very puzzled by the constant concern which the world is showing for thePalestinian people and is actually showing for these horrible, inhuman animals”(Representative of Israel to the UN, Dan Gillerman); “We will turn Khan Yunis [South Gaza]
into a soccer field […] We need to take advantage of the destruction we will wreck uponthem.” (Former Israeli Minister of Justice and Minister of Internal Affairs). Israeli President
said the entire nation [of Palestine] is responsible. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu saw Hamas as “Amalek” and referred to the Jewish Holy Bible that regarded allthat belongs to “Amalek”, including men, women, children and animals, as eligible forannihilation.
● Genocidal acts are set out in this letter in detail. Under Article 6 of the Rome Statute,
genocide is considered the most serious crime in international law and as such falls under
the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Courth) Israel has switched off the electricity and water supply in Gaza. UN World Food Programme saysthat “hunger is ravaging Gaza” and famine is spreading fast. Crops and vegetables in Gaza havebeen deliberately destroyed by the Israeli army, according to Human Rights Watch. Director
General of the WHO reported that Israeli army has given 24 hours to clear the supplies from thewarehouse in South Gaza because they intend to destroy it. Palestinians, children included, arehaving their limbs amputated without anaesthetics. The conditions required to deliver aid to thepeople of Gaza do not exist. “Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated tobring about its physical destruction in whole or in part” is an act of genocide according to Article
2 (c) of Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and a breach of
Customary Rule 131 of international humanitarian law. The deprivation of access to food andmedicine is also a crime against humanity called extermination according to Article (7)(1)(b) and7(2)(b) of the Rome Statutes.
i) On 13th October, Israel issued a 24-hour notice ordering 1 million people comprising the wholeof North Gaza (including 22 hospitals) to evacuate to South Gaza, where it later bombed them ina more densely populated area as well as during evacuation. These orders were considered“outrageous” by Doctors without Borders, “alarming” by Human Rights Watch, “death sentence
for the sick and injured” by the WHO, “utterly impossible” by the EU Foreign Policy Chief, and“extremely dangerous” by the UN Secretary General. Israel later ordered other areas of Gaza
(Khan Yunis) to be evacuated. In December, after the ceasefire, Israel divided Gaza into a
chessboard-like zones and ordered people from some zones in South Gaza to evacuate toanother zone, then ordered almost two million to evacuate out of that zone into a barren 8.5 sq.
km (3.3 sq. miles) area without much infrastructure. Gaza residents “are being told to move likehuman pinballs – ricocheting between ever-smaller slivers of the south, without any of the basics
for survival,” Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the UN Security Council. 1.84 out of ca. 2.2
million Gazans are already internally displaced. Ethnic cleansing of the entire occupied Gaza as
an ultimate objective of the military offensive was announced by the Israeli Prime Minister and,according to Israeli magazine Mekomit, also confirmed by Israeli Ministry of Intelligence. "We are
now actually rolling out the Gaza Nakba 2023" said Israel's Minister for Agriculture live on Israeli
TV. Forced transfer of all or part of the population is a war crime under Rome Statutes Art
8(2)(b)(viii).

j)Research by Israeli journalist into the use of AI to generate 100 targets a day as opposed tonormal 50 targets, along with the images of whole neighbourhoods destroyed, points at the lackof regard towards civilian life and infrastructure. So far, the amount of explosive equivalent to
two Hiroshima bombs was dropped on Gaza. “Intentionally directing attacks against the civilian
population as such or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities” is a war
crime under Rome Statutes Art 8(2)(b)(i); constitutes use of excessive force and a war crime
under part (iv) of the same article; and breaches Customary Rule 14 of IHL.
k) Israel has announced that it plans to permanently annex Gaza.
l) On 6 December 2023, due to the scope of humanitarian crisis, Secretary General of the UN
General Assembly invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter for the first time in his career to warn the
Security Council of a threat to international peace and security posed by Israeli actions in Gaza.
These actions rank “amongst the worst assaults on any civilian population in our time and age”,
according to Norwegian Refugee Council chief.
4. Israel has no legal recourse to claim the right to self-defence within the meaning of Art. 51 of the
UN Charter. According to the International Court of Justice and the UN Special Rapporteur the
self-defence justification is not available to Israel as an occupying force in Occupied Territories. The
act of occupation forfeits the right to claim self-defence. In either case, even where such right exists,
it must be exercised according to international humanitarian law norms, and not with complete
impunity.
5. EU Foreign Policy Chief warned Israel that compliance with international humanitarian law andlaws of war is imperative, as “not only a moral obligation, but a legal one as well”. In the same
thread, he also criticised “the growing violence in the West Bank where, according to the @UN, 271
Palestinians have been killed since 7 October.”

SITUATION IN WEST BANK AND EAST JERUSALEM SINCE 7 OCTOBER 2023
6. In the Occupied Territories of West Bank and East Jerusalem military incursions have intensified,
while murders and abuses of civilians by Israeli army and settlers has massively increased since 7 Oct
2023. According to UN Human Rights Office, between 7 Oct and 1 Dec 2023, over 3000 Palestinians
have been arrested in the West Bank, many without being presented direct evidence of an offense.
Six Palestinians have died in Israeli custody during this period. Israeli forces have injured 3229
Palestinians, including at least 509 children. An additional 80 Palestinians have been injured bysettlers. 302 settler attacks against Palestinians were recorded, resulting in Palestinian casualties (33incidents), damage to Palestinian-owned property (229 incidents), or both (40 incidents). This
reflects a daily average of five incidents, compared with three since the beginning of the year. At
least 143 Palestinian households comprising 1014 people, including 388 children, have been
displaced amid settler violence and access restrictions. The displaced households are from 15
herding Bedouin communities. In addition, 63 Palestinians, including 31 children, have been
displaced following punitive demolitions in East Jerusalem and Area C. 271 people have been killed,
including at least 63 children. For example, an eight-year-old and a 14-year-old were deliberately shotand killed.
7. Israelis destroyed the statute to a Nobel Prize winner and Palestinian leader (1969-2004) Yasser
Arafat and other cultural symbols. Doctors without Border witnessed Israeli army shooting at thehospital, killing a boy, and reported being systematically prevented to reach hospital in West Bank totreat patients, while the injured were denied access to the hospital. Israel engages in regularbulldozing of the streets in the West Bank to make living a normal life (drive car, call an ambulance,etc.) impossible and force people to relocate. Israeli army incursions and settler violence wererecorded all over the West Bank, and the situation is particularly alarming in the H2 Hebron. The
hands of a 13-year-old boy, who was a part of hostage exchange during ceasefire, were fractured byIsraelis while beaten in prison eight days prior to his release and he did not receive a treatment until
he was handed over to Red Cross. Israel prohibited expressions of joy for Palestinians to celebrate
the return of released relatives from Israeli prisons. Israeli National Security Minister said that“expressions of joy are a support for terrorism” and that “celebrations of victory give strength to
those same human scum.” Majority of the released people were never charged with any crime andabout 2000 of them are held in administrative detention.

BREACHES OF INTERNATIONAL LAW BY ISRAEL PRIOR TO 7 OCTOBER 2023
8. “The legacy of Israel’s [56]-year occupation of the Palestinian territories has been systematic
human rights violations on a mass scale” according to Amnesty International. Some of the mostflagrant violations of international laws are outlined below.
9. BOMBING CAMPAIGNS AND 17-YEAR SIEGE OF GAZA: After Nakba in 1948, in which 750.000
Palestinians were forcefully displaced and dispossessed, and thousands massacred to make way forthe newly declared Israeli state, Palestinians fled to surrounding countries and areas of what
remained of Palestine. Israel overtook 78% of the Palestinian territory and an area of Gaza becamevery densely populated. In 1967, Israel occupied Gaza. After two Palestinian uprisings (intifadas) in
Gaza, Israel evacuated all its troops and settlers in 2005, and then completely fenced Gaza off fromthe outside world thus finishing the fence project started in 1996. Since 2007, Israel also imposed acomplete sea and air blockade – Gaza is therefore often referred to as the largest open-air prison in
the world. Israel’s closure policy blocks most Gaza residents from travelling and going to the West
Bank, the other part of Palestine. Since the Oct 2023 bombing started, the enclave has been
completely blocked off. It is the fifth bombing campaign since 2008, i.e., every 16 year old living in
Gaza today went through five such campaigns in their lifetime.
10. OCCUPATION: Since 1967, after waging a “six-day war” on three neighbouring countries, Israel
illegally occupies the territories of Palestine, Lebanon, and Syrian Golan. UN Security Council
Resolutions 242 and 338 directly calling for Israel to cease the occupation and withdraw from theterritories acquired by use of force. Israel is acting against these resolutions by continuous
occupation and settlement building in the territories that belongs to other countries. It also regularlybombs countries it occupies, murders civilian population, and destroys cultural heritage.
11. BUILDING SETTLEMENTS ON OCCUPIED LAND: UN Security Council Resolution 465 instructed
Israel “to dismantle the existing settlements and in particular to cease, on an urgent basis, theestablishment, construction and planning of settlements in the Arab territories occupied since 1967,
including Jerusalem.” Building settlements in Occupied Palestinian Territories constitutes “a flagrantviolation under international law and a major obstacle to the vision of two States living side-by-sidein peace and security, within internationally recognized borders” according to UN Security Council
Resolution 2334 (2016). In practice, not just Israeli Jews but anyone of Jewish descent (for example,
US citizens who have never been to Israel) can arrive to OPT (the right under the Law of Return),
automatically receive Israeli citizenship, force Palestinians out of their family homes and move in.
Israeli army, and/or settlers, routinely force people out of their homes, bulldozer houses, olive trees,
agricultural and other goods that mean livelihood, to clear the way for Israeli settlements. Regularsettler violence with only 6% of reports to police being followed up by Israel, including manyhorrifying accounts, are a part of daily life of Palestinians in the West Bank. On 1 March 2023, Israeli
Minister of Finance called for “wiping out” the entire Palestinian village of Huwara in the West Bank.
12. APARTHEID REGIME: According to UN experts, Israeli B’Tselem, Amnesty International, andHuman Rights Watch, the state of Israel is implementing “a cruel” apartheid regime. Apartheid
regime of any kind is a crime against humanity under Rome Statutes Article 7(1)(j), as defined in
Article 7(2)(h). It is specifically prohibited under Art 3 of the International Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and under Apartheid Convention. It also runs
counter to the International Convention against Apartheid in Sports adopted by UN General
Assembly Resolution, of which sport governing bodies should take a note. It defines apartheid as “asystem of institutionalized racial segregation and discrimination for the purpose of establishing andmaintaining domination by one racial group of persons over another racial group of persons andsystematically oppressing them[…].” According to Yael Berda of Jerusalem's Hebrew University[cited], the Israeli permit regime is one of three elements underpinning Israel's military managementof the occupied population through intelligence, economic control and racial profiling. Israeli scholars
Ariella Azoulay and Adir Ophir [cited] have “characterized Israel's control over the West Bank as theinterplay between ‘spectacular violence’ that kills instantly and ‘suspended violence’, meaningmeasures that are not immediately lethal, such as the permit system; the destruction of homes,
roads, and well; restrictions on movement; denial of access to water resources; the system ofJewish-only bypass roads; the separation barrier; and other means of dividing Palestinian territory
into separate parcels.” Israel maintains two different systems of law applicable to Jews andPalestinians in OPT: Israeli laws adopted by Israeli Parliament (Knesset) applies to Jewish settlers in
OPT while Israeli military law applies to Palestinians. The presence of 645 physical movement
obstacles in the West Bank that have a “severe impact on Palestinians by preventing or restricting
access and movement to main roads, urban centres, services, and agricultural areas”. This includes
restriction of access to their private farms in West Bank and health care services in other areas of
OPT – East Jerusalem. Also, restrictions on access and movement of labor and goods severely hinder
trade outcomes and productive capacity in both West Bank and Gaza. These restrictions apply
exclusively to Palestinian population.
13. MURDERS, ARRESTS AND TREATMENT OF PALESTINIAN CHILDREN IN OPT: Israeli media reported
that almost 1000 Palestinian children as young as 12 are arrested by Israeli army every year, “seizedin the dead of night, blindfolded and cuffed, abused and manipulated to confess to crimes they didn't
commit.” As confessed by an ex Israeli soldier, the purpose of many raids on Palestinian homes andarrests of people is to “intimidate everyone everywhere all the time”. Children as young as 5 years
old have been arrested. Israel is the only country in the world that systematically tries children in
military courts, but most children are never charged with any crime. They are kept under theadministrative detention. When they are charged it is usually for stone throwing, which carries up to
20 years in prison. In 2020, Save the Children UN reported that Palestinian children are “treated likeanimals” in Israeli prisons. This is systematic and includes sexual abuses and torture. Human Rights
Watch had extensive reports highlighting the same issue. A rape of a 13 year old in prison that wasreported to Israeli authorities resulted in raiding the premises of Palestinian branch of theinternational charity for protection of children that made the report, and declaring them a terrorist
entity.
Many Palestinian children are killed every year on the streets of West Bank. On 1 June 2-year-old boy
and his father were shot by Israeli army as they were leaving their home in Nabi Saleh in occupied
West Bank, near the Jewish settlement. The boy died four days later.

Many children in West Bank must cross Israel military checkpoints on their way to school and sport
fields, and are often harassed at those checkpoints.
These actions constitute a breach of many internationally agreed standards and conventions, such as
UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice, and the UN Convention on
the Rights of the Child.
14. THE EXPLOITATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES ON OCCUPIED TERRITORIES: The UN reported that“[t]he Palestinian people have been prohibited from exploiting the oil and gas reserves in their own
land and water to meet their energy needs and generate fiscal and export revenues.” Oil and gas
sources that lie in Gaza’s territorial waters are exploited by Israel exclusively for its own benefit. The
economic cost of occupation for Palestinian people is enormous and amounts to hundreds of billions
in USD. This cost has been studied by UNCTAD at the request of several UN General Assembly
Resolutions. The study highlighted that “[t]his is not only contrary to international law, but also in
violation of natural justice and moral law.” Israeli officials have confirmed on multiple occasions thatthey “intend to keep the Gazan economy on the brink of collapse without quite pushing it over theedge,” “consistent with avoiding a humanitarian crisis”.
The access to water for Palestinians is strictly controlled by Israel. In 1967, Israel placed all water
resources in the OPT under its military control under Military order No.92 1967 applicable only toPalestinians and not to Israeli settlers. Consequences of this were disastrous. At the same time,
Palestinians are also forbidden to collect rain for farming on the Occupied Territories because,
according to Israeli government, rain belongs to Israel. Rainwater harvesting cisterns owned byPalestinian communities are therefore often destroyed by the Israeli army. Israeli settlers in the WestBank living just a few hundred meters away face no such restrictions and can enjoy swimming pools
and capitalize on well-irrigated farmlands.
UN Resolution of Nov. 2023 demanded that Israel cease the exploitation, damage, cause of loss ordepletion and endangerment of the natural resources in the OPT and in the occupied Syrian Golan,
including those perpetrated by Israeli settlers, harming the environment and the dumping of all kindsof waste materials.

EFFECTS OF ISRAELI REGIME AND SPORT ASSOCIATIONS’ PRACTICE ON PALESTINIANSPORTS
15. AGAINST THIS BACKGROUND, and given the Russian, South African and other precedents, westrongly urge sports governing bodies to suspend Israel from all global and European sporting events
due to the devastating effect the actions of Israeli government and sports associations have on thedevelopment of Palestinian sport, as explained below. We call on all global and European sport
federations to use their respective sport as a vehicle for peace, justice, fairness, non-discrimination,and development of human rights in sport in line with international law and the obligations
stemming directly from their own statutes.
16. For example, the fundamental principle of Olympism under IOC Charter states that “the practiceof sport is a human right. Every individual must have access to the practice of sport, without
discrimination of any kind in respect of internationally recognised human rights.” Another principle
adds that “[t]he goal of Olympism is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of
humankind with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of humandignity.” According to Rule 1(1) of the IOC Charter, the goal of the Olympic Movement is “tocontribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport practised inaccordance with Olympism and its values,” while the mission of the IOC under Rule 2(4) is to placesport “at the service of humanity and thereby to promote peace”.
17. According to Article 3 of the FIFA Statutes “FIFA is committed to respecting all internationallyrecognised human rights and shall strive to promote the protection of these rights”. Article 4 of theFIFA Statutes prohibits discrimination of any kind and on any grounds against a country or a group ofpeople. Art 4(2) provides that “FIFA remains neutral in matters of politics and religion. Exceptions
may be made with regard to matters affected by FIFA’s statutory objectives.” One of these objectives
in is “to improve the game of football constantly and promote it globally in the light of its unifying,educational, cultural and humanitarian values” (Art 2 FIFA Statutes). In its Human Rights Policy, FIFAhas committed itself to respecting human rights in accordance with the UN Guiding Principles on
Business and Human Rights, all other internationally recognised human rights, and international
humanitarian law. This policy sets out standards expected not just of FIFA but also to wide range of
connected stakeholders, including its member associations. Therefore, “FIFA seeks to prevent or
mitigate adverse human rights impacts that are directly linked to its operations, products or services
by its business relationships, even if FIFA has not contributed to those impacts.”
18. Under FIBA General Statutes, FIBA’s mission and role under is to “adopt and implement
appropriate policies in relation to discrimination”, to “[e]nsure that basketball throughout the worldis carried on in a manner that allows the sport to be competitive and fair” and “to foster, encourage
and advance the sport and practice of basketball in every country worldwide”.
19. While the human rights objectives and commitments in these rulebooks are laudable, their value
can only be judged by the extent of their implementation in practice, where powerful political actors
frequently seek to muffle legitimate calls for justice in sport. Regarding the rule on political neutrality
in sport governing bodies rulebooks, we must point out that, under the circumstances, being passive
is not the same as being politically neutral.
Israel’s decades-long occupation, apartheid regime, economic repression, murders and arrests ofathletes, and many other illegal actions have prevented the development of sport in OPT. Israeli
sports associations have also played their role, as described below. UN High Commissioner for
Human Rights recently said that “[w]e need responsible sport – sport and Mega-Sporting Events thatare inclusive, fair, and safe […]and where human rights risks are mapped and addressed in line withinternational standards.” Turning a blind eye to the brutal Israeli regime, the actions of the Israeli
sport associations, and effect it has on Palestinian athletes and sport is no longer acceptable. The
example from football is detailed below, but all sports in OPT suffer from the same issues and humanrights violations.
20. ATHLETES ARE REGULARLY KILLED, SHOT, AND ARRESTED WITHOUT CHARGE. Young children 9-11
years old who went to play football on the beach in 2014 were targeted by Israeli strike resulting in
the killing of four of the boys and injuring others (who featured in “Born in Gaza” documentary on
Netflix). In Jan 2014, Jawhar Nasser Jawhar (19) and Adam Abd Al Raouf Halabiya (17) were trying tocross a checkpoint in the West Bank on their way home from a training session. They were shot
repeatedly by soldiers in their feet, mauled by dogs, and then beaten by Israeli soldiers. They cannever play football again. In Dec 2008, amid Israeli air raids on the Gaza Strip, Hazem Alrekhawi (19)and a promising football player with Shabab Rafah, got on a bus with his classmates from college in
Gaza City. Israeli fighter jet targeted the bus killing everyone on board – he was an only survivor but
carries a life-long injuries. Israeli forces have shot dead a 23-year-old footballer Ahmed Daraghmeh in
Dec 2022. During Israel’s war on Gaza at the end of 2008, 11 Palestinian football players were killed.

A protest letter signed by 52 professional football players highlighted a bomb attack by Israeli forceson a football stadium in Gaza on November 10 2012, which killed four teenage players. The letter
also said that two players from the club Al Amari had been detained in Israel “without charge or trial”
since February 2012. Mahmoud Wadi stated that many players that he played against or with while
in Gaza, have died in the current assault, along with Ahmad Awad (21) who represented Palestine’s
national football team for dwarfism. Former Palestinian footballer Ahed Zaqqut was killed by an
Israeli missile strike on his home in Gaza. Killing of former players prevents continuity and knowledgetransfer to younger generations. According to Palestine’s official WAFA news agency, Israel had killed
at least 47 athletes from various team and individual sports plus 17 technicians and administratorssince 7 Oct alone, including Yasmine Sharaf, a six-year-old karate athlete, who had dreamed ofrepresenting Palestine in international competitions. Tarek al-Quto was killed in the violence duringsecond Intifada. Footballer Ibrahim Abuimeir avoided being killed but his home was destroyed andhe no longer has an opportunity to practice.
Between 1967-2006, 20% of total population and 40% of male population in Palestine has beenarrested by Israeli army. Children as young as five have been arrested on the sports fields. Mahmoud
Sarsak, a Palestinian football player and a member of the national team, was arrested andimprisoned by Israel for three years without charge or trial. He went on a hunger strike for threemonths. His decision to begin a hunger strike was a response to the death of Zakaria Issa, a
Palestinian international football player who died shortly after being released due to being denied atreatment for cancer in prison. Negotiations, suggestions, and soft approach did not work to change
the situation. “FIFA, UEFA, the world's players union FIFPro, and some high-profile players, have all
had their say on his case, but their combined efforts were unable to prevent a promising footballer
being incarcerated for the best years of his career.” Many similar examples of arrests happen every
month. The words “FIFA is committed to helping protect the rights of football players” in FIFA’s
Human Rights Policy sound hollow.
21. ISRAELI CLUBS AND ATHLETES IN OCCUPIED TERRITORIES: The Palestine Football Association(PFA) was founded in 1928 and recognised by FIFA in 1929. The PFA was then hijacked and its namechanged to “Israel Football Association” (IFA) following the founding of the state of Israel in 1948.
PFA was recognised again as a full member of FIFA only in 1998.
Today, seven football clubs from Israeli settlements in OPT are allowed to participate in Israeli
leagues. As such, the IFA is in violation of FIFA and UEFA rules forbidding a club of one national
association from playing in the territory of another as the West Bank is covered by the Palestinian
Football Association, a FIFA member association. FIFA and UEFA should note the UN Security
Council’s confirmation that the West Bank is not part of Israel, and that settlements are illegal. Israeli
settlement football clubs contribute to human rights violations. UN Special Adviser on Sport forDevelopment and Peace (Wilfried Lemke) wrote to FIFA in 2017 to urge a resolution of the matter ofthe settlement clubs, “in line with the United Nations Security Council Resolutions and FIFA Statutes
within a reasonable time frame”. According to Human Rights Watch “by allowing the [Israeli Football
Association] to hold matches inside settlements, FIFA is engaging in business activity that supports
Israeli settlements, contrary to the human rights commitments it recently affirmed.” Likewise, UEFAis complicit by allowing IFA national teams and Israeli League clubs, that are a part of European
pyramid structure, to participate in its competitions while supporting illegal settlements. It is
contrary to both, its own “home and away” rule and the international law. Same goes for all othersports governing bodies that turn the blind eye to this issue and play a part in implementing Israeli
settlement policies considered to be in grave violation of international law, including UN Security
Council Resolutions. In addition, Palestinians are not allowed to enter settlements in West Bank towatch games played by these clubs – a classic symbol of apartheid regime. 55 Holocaust andGenocide scholars have signed a letter and, among other things, called on businesses and labor
unions to ensure that they do not aid and abet Israeli mass violence. The EU are about to introduce
sanctions against Jewish settlers responsible for violence against Palestinians, and the State
Department of the US government already imposed travel bans on them. But sport clubs andathletes are still allowed to participate in competitions organised by Israeli associations/leagues whoare in turn not sanctioned by the global and European federations. According to FIFA’s Human Rights
Policy, “FIFA expects and promotes the respect of international human rights standards where landacquisition involves expropriations and in particular where people are resettled in the process.” This
commitment is not applied in the Palestinian context and instead, both FIFA and UEFA willingly
contribute to the violations of international law and human rights.
By comparison, in 2014, when the Russian Football Union tried to field clubs from occupied Crimea in
its national league UEFA promptly kicked them out. FIFA actions in Nagorno-Karabakh in the South
Caucasus and Northern Cyprus, involved prohibition on an occupying power to field teams from theoccupied territory in its national league. Also, “[t]he Russian Olympic Committee was banned [byIOC] with immediate effect on 12 Oct 2023 for recognising regional organisations from four
territories annexed from Ukraine.”
22. DESTORYED SPORT INFRASTRUCTURE, YOUTH PROGRAMMES, AND INVESTMENTOPPORTUNITIES. The impact of multiple Israeli wars on Gaza were detrimental to football clubs: The
Israeli blockade and the wars on Gaza “annihilated the private sector projects that used to provide
support and aid for clubs going through financial crises”. The social, cultural and youth activities thatclubs used to organise before the blockade, besides sports activities, had to be abandoned, and clubs
have consequently lost their cultural role. During the Israel’s war on Gaza at the end of 2008, 55% of
the sports infrastructure in Gaza and 15 sports facilities were destroyed, including the headquartersof the Palestinian Olympic Committee and football clubs that fed into the youth programmes in theirlocalities. Wars also affected the corporations sponsoring clubs and the sport itself. Several factories
which had been supporting local tournaments and football clubs for years were destroyed. The
company that supported numerous football teams and sponsored countless tournaments in Gaza
was forced to shut down after several wars have depleted its capacity to recover. Israel increased
restrictions on other economic aspects of life in OPT: it imposed the limits on money transfers into
Gaza and this too had impact on sport investment. Israeli bombardment destroyed the Yarmouk andPalestine stadiums, the two largest stadiums in Gaza, during the 2012 war. The latest Israeli offense
on Gaza has put to an end any chance of recovery of sport that has now been crushed on all levels.
In West Bank, apart from shooting and arrests of players, permits needed to build sporting
infrastructure by Palestinians on their own land are routinely denied, with 98% overall rejection rate
for buildings of any kind in Area C constituting about two thirds of the West Bank. The situation is notmuch different in other areas for Palestinians. For Israeli settlers in OPT, no such licensing rules apply,
consistent with systematic and institutionalised racial segregation. Israel has blocked Palestinian
development by designating large swathes of land as state land, survey land, firing zones, nature
reserves and national parks; by allocating land to settlements and their regional councils; or by
introducing prohibitions to the specified areas. Raising the issue of sporting infrastructure permits
with Israeli minister Shimon Peres by former FIFA President did not yield any result.
In EU policy, sport is seen as a “tool for local and regional development”.
23. TRAVELLING FOR INTERNATIONAL AND DOMESTIC COMPETITIONS IS MADE DIFFICULT:
Palestinian athletes do not have a fair treatment and equal opportunities to work and travel forcompetitions in relation to their Israeli counterparts. FiFPro has emphasised that every football
player must be able to play for his country and it is a right of every player to represent their country,

adding that “all professional footballers in the world must have equal rights, including the right tofreedom of movement, which is a universal right. That also applies to all professional footballers inand from Palestine.” According to Human Rights Watch “athletes living in Gaza have missed vital
opportunities for advancement not available in Gaza”. They routinely do not hear back after applying
for Israeli permits, even though the though the Israeli army guidelines specifically identify “entry ofsportspeople” as among the permissible exemptions to the closure. Visas for international travel areoften denied, while even Cup matches between Palestinian teams in Gaza and West Bank were
known to be delayed or abandoned. As one of many examples, the Palestinian Football Federation
applied for permits for the entire 22-person team and 13-person staff, but Israeli authorities, without
explanation, granted permits to only 4 people, only one of whom was a player. After appeal to theJerusalem District Court, Israeli authorities granted 11 people permits, including six players, saying
the other 24 were denied on security grounds that were not specified. In 2021, all the football
players from Gaza received a permit to travel to West Bank for a Cup match, except for all three ofthe goalkeepers, which made it pointless to travel. Recently, Jabal al-Mukaber FC based in OPT of
East Jerusalem was forced to withdraw from Asian Football Confederation Cup this year due to theongoing war. In 2016, the same club was unable to play games in Jerusalem due to restrictions on
players with Palestinian identification, preventing them from entering Jerusalem. It is now difficult
for the national team to take part in the 2026 football World Cup qualification and the Asian Cup in
January 2024 and players are drawn from Palestinians abroad.
Negotiations, suggestions, and soft approach (forming committees to monitor and report, etc.) do
not work to change the situation. In 1999 FIFA’s former President raised these concerns (to allow
freedom of movement for athletes and to remove barriers to establishing sport infrastructure) with
Israeli minister Shimon Peres, but with no results. Palestinian female national football team struggle
with the same restrictions and issues as their male counterparts. Free movement is necessary fordevelopment of sport in Palestine, in line with the mandate and objectives of development andpromotion of sport by the global and European governing bodies.
In a resolution suspending Russia, the IOC justified its decision by saying that “the war in Ukraine[…]puts the Olympic Movement in a dilemma. While athletes from Russia […]would be able tocontinue to participate in sports events, many athletes from Ukraine are prevented from doing so
because of the attack on their country.” The IOC did not specify in which way were Ukrainian athletes
prevented from participating and by whom. Athletes could travel through five out of seven European
countries that share a border with Ukraine and were not required to join the army. In a more obvious
case of travel restrictions placed on athletes from OPT, and constant military attacks on theirterritories including sports infrastructure, killings and arrests, there is no concern about equality inIOC.
24. SOME SPORT ASSOCIATIONS/ATHLETES MIGHT NOT WANT TO PLAY AGAINST ISRAEL. There is adistinct possibility that some football, basketball, handball, and other associations will not want toplay against Israel. This would put in jeopardy “the efficient organization and smooth running of thematches”, one of the main points in FIFA’s decision to suspend Russia. The decisions of threeassociations that did not want to play against Russia are “fully understandable and cannot be
criticized from either a legal or moral point of view” according to FIFA who also took into account the
hypothetical future and said it “also is foreseeable that other member associations would take thesame position […]the consequences of which would be irreparable and chaotic”. Many examples ofboycott of Israeli athletes have occurred throughout history and disrupted the proper organisation ofcompetitions. After Oct 2023 and the most severe offensive on Gaza in history, these sentiments run
deeper, and the boycotts might take a wider format.

In addition, the boycott might come from some of the 62 State Parties to International Convention
against Apartheid in Sports. It provides that the States Parties shall prohibit sports contacts with acountry practising apartheid and ensure that their sports bodies/ teams, and individual sportsmen
do not have such contact. They also have a duty to take all appropriate action to secure the expulsionof a country practising apartheid from international and regional sports bodies and prevent“international sports bodies from imposing financial or other penalties on affiliated bodies which, in
accordance with United Nations resolutions, the provisions of the present Convention and the spiritof the Olympic principle, refuse to participate in sports with a country practising apartheid.”
25. SAFETY AT EVENTS. Considering strong sentiments on both sides involving global population, thesport organisers cannot ensure safety at their events for anyone, both inside and outside the event
venues. Safety concerns were the one of the main reasons used to ban Russia from participation ininternational sports by IOC, FIFA and UEFA. In its statement recommending suspension of Russia, IOCsaid that “[…]for the safety of all the participants, the IOC EB recommends that International Sports
Federations and sports event organisers not invite or allow the participation of Russian andBelarusian athletes and officials in international competitions.” To justify its decision to ban Russian
teams, FIFA argued before the Court of Arbitration for Sport that “[i]t would be impossible to holdany matches with the [Russian] national team whilst ensuring the safety and security of allparticipating teams, delegations, and officials.” CAS panel found this reasonable and accepted that“the very presence of the Appellant’s teams might generate protests that escalate into violence.”
UEFA agreed and submitted that “[t]he successful staging of the events, including the safety andsecurity, is the paramount factor.” In a separate case, UEFA added that “[e]ven if matches against
Russian teams would be staged on a neutral territory, there are serious concerns about the ability toensure the safety and security for all those involved, i.e. delegations, players, supporters etc. This isof paramount importance for UEFA.” UEFA found the Russian’s arguments that matches could beorganised on a neutral pitch or without spectators “unconvincing” and said that it is simply
impossible to ensure the security of all participants. Playing matches “exposes even the [Russia’s]
own players to volatile and potentially dangerous situations”. The security of the opposing teams,
officials, and the cities and countries involved should also be taken into account.” All of thesearguments apply to Israel’s participation in international competitions. It may be recalled that Paris(where the Olympic games will take place in 2024) has already hosted large demonstrations (muchlike London and all other major European cities). Many of the same people that took place in thedemonstrations all over the world will be present at the Olympics in Paris, at FIFA’s qualifying rounds
for FIFA World Cup 2026, EURO 2024, and in UEFA’s European club competitions.
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26. The only concrete reason specified in FIFA’s public statement regarding decision to ban Russia
was: “[f]ootball is fully united here and in full solidarity with all the people affected in Ukraine”. Suchsolidarity was voiced across the sports. Yet, after more than two months of genocide in Gaza, there
doesn’t seem to be any such solidarity with Palestinian people. We must ask IOC, FIFA, UEFA, FIBA,
and other sports associations – why is this the case? As demonstrated, there is a glaring lack ofinternal policy coherence regarding decisions in cases of illegal invasion/occupation, and apartheid.
Rules that are not applied equally to all are not rules but tools for discrimination susceptible toinfluence of powerful players in the world politics. This brings into question the business ethics,
governance standards, principle of political neutrality and compliance with law and own regulations.
Israel government is acting with complete impunity, unconstrained by international politics and law
in its decision-making, while its sporting bodies are acting with the same level of impunity in sport.
This should not be tolerated by the global and European sports governing bodies whose mandate isbased on a clear set of rules and policy objectives, including principle of non-discrimination between
countries and their athletes and teams. Nor it should be accepted by the millions of fans worldwide
that the sports federations are unwilling to take genuine and effective action to address such serious
issues. The IOC in its resolution to ban Russia reaffirmed the call of the IOC President: “Give peace achance.” Do Palestinians not deserve the same chance for peace and the same human rights as
Ukrainian athletes and teams?
27. We implore you to act urgently as required by the severity of the situation. With every passing
day, there are life and death consequences for Palestinian sports. Establishing committees to monitor
and report on situation is not appropriate to address the circumstances and has already proven afailed idea. Nothing short of suspension pending compliance with international law and sports
regulations will suffice. Therefore, we call on IOC and all European and global sports federations toapply their statutory rules on non-discrimination and human rights and ban Israel from theirrespective sports. The head-in-the-sand approach and double standards are no longer acceptable.