Sporting’s top governing bodies continue to ignore Israel’s genocide in Gaza as the war enters its 2nd year

ANKARA

The main governing bodies of world sport, such as FIFA for football, FIBA ​​for basketball and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), still remain silent about Israel’s genocide in the Gaza Strip as the war entered the its second year, on October 7th.

Israeli clubs, national teams and athletes have been eligible to participate in international sporting tournaments since last October for football, basketball and the 2024 Paris Olympics held last summer.

The organizations that govern international sports competitions and local federations have not condemned Israel and are allowing its teams and athletes to compete for titles and medals. Israel, however, has expanded its military operations in Gaza and recently attacked Lebanon with airstrikes and a ground intrusion.

Israel has continued a brutal offensive in the Gaza Strip since an attack by Palestinian resistance group Hamas last year, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.

Since then, more than 42,000 victims have been killed, most of them women and children, and more than 97,300 have been injured in the attack, according to local health authorities.

Israel has launched massive airstrikes in Lebanon against what it calls Hezbollah targets, which have killed more than 1,200 victims and injured another 3,400 since September 23. Tel Aviv also began a ground invasion of southern Lebanon on October 1.

Sports governing bodies have remained silent about Israel’s brutal offensive. But FIFA, FIBA ​​and the IOC immediately sanctioned Moscow after Russia launched a “special military operation” in 2022 against its neighbor Ukraine.

Russian clubs and national teams have been suspended from the FIFA and UEFA organizations and the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague basketball tournament in Europe. Clubs cannot compete in competitions yet.

Days after Russia started the war, on February 24, 2022, world football’s governing body FIFA and Europe’s UEFA showed solidarity with Ukraine.

FIFA condemned the Russian attack on Ukraine.

“FIFA condemns Russia’s use of force in Ukraine and any type of violence to resolve conflicts. Violence is never a solution and FIFA calls on all parties to restore peace through constructive dialogue,” it said in a statement. “FIFA also continues to express its solidarity with those affected by this conflict.”

FIFA and UEFA suspended Russian clubs and national teams from all competitions on 28 February 2022, which meant that the Russian men’s national team was expelled from the 2022 FIFA World Cup, held later that year in Qatar.

In an additional sanction, FIFA banned the Russian flag and anthem from foreign matches and said no international competitions would be played in Russia.

In May 2022, UEFA said Russia had been disqualified from UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 and replaced by Portugal.

In the same year, UEFA confirmed that Russia was banned from participating in the men’s EURO 2024 in Germany.

After Russia attacked Ukraine in 2022, UEFA stated that it “shares the international community’s significant concern about the security situation developing in Europe”.

“As European football’s governing body, UEFA is working tirelessly to develop and promote football in accordance with common European values, such as peace and respect for human rights, in the spirit of the Olympic Charter,” it said in a statement.

“We remain steadfast in our solidarity with the football community in Ukraine and are ready to extend our hand to the Ukrainian people,” he said.

UEFA said it is “dealing with this situation with the utmost seriousness and urgency”.

Israel plays international football matches despite war

The Israel men’s national football team competed in the UEFA EURO 2024 qualifiers and playoffs despite the war in Gaza.

In March, Israel was eliminated by Iceland 4-1 in the semi-final of the EURO 2024 playoffs in Budapest.

The Palestinian Football Federation (PFA) presented a proposal to suspend Israel in May, but in the preceding months FIFA postponed the decision on the bid.

On October 3, the FIFA Council accepted the PFA’s petition against Israel for human rights violations and decided to launch an investigation.

“The FIFA Governance, Audit and Compliance Committee will be tasked with investigating – and subsequently advising the FIFA Council – on the participation in Israeli competitions of Israeli football teams allegedly based in the territory of Palestine,” it stated.

Israel is currently competing in the 2024-25 UEFA Nations League and faced France on Thursday at home in Budapest. Didier Deschamps’ France beat them 4-1 in the Group A2 game.

In European cups, Maccabi Tel-Aviv, an Israeli club, will compete in the 2024-25 season in the second division of the UEFA Europa League.

Hapoel Beer Sheva, Maccabi Petah Tikva and Maccabi Haifa, which are the other Israeli clubs, were eliminated in the qualifying rounds of the third division of the UEFA Conference League.

Israeli basketball giants continue to play in the EuroLeague

Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv, one of European basketball’s most prominent clubs that won the EuroLeague title in 2014, still competes in the tournament.

Many Russian clubs, however, including former champions CSKA Moscow, were excluded by EuroLeague organizers because of the war against Ukraine, and the EuroLeague ban on Russian clubs was extended for the season.

For security reasons, Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv plays all of its home games at the Aleksandar Nikolic Hall in the Serbian capital Belgrade.

FIBA also supported Israel after the start of the war in Gaza.

“FIBA Europe, in close cooperation with the Israeli Basketball Federation and the clubs, will continue to monitor the situation as it remains committed to prioritizing the safety and well-being of all participants and stakeholders,” it said after extend the postponement of games involving Israeli teams in the EuroCup Women and the FIBA ​​Europe Cup in October 2023.

In contrast, in March 2022, FIBA ​​said that no Russian teams and officials would be allowed to participate in FIBA ​​basketball because of Moscow’s war against Ukraine, and later said that there would not be any FIBA ​​competitions ​in Russia and Belarus.

Additionally, Russia and Belarus were withdrawn from the 2023 FIBA ​​Basketball World Cup European Qualifiers and no team replaced them.

Russia did not compete in the 2022 FIBA ​​Women’s Basketball World Cup in Australia for the same reason.

IOC allows Israel to attend the Paris Games

Israeli athletes have been allowed to compete for medals at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

Asked whether Israel would be allowed to participate in Paris, IOC President Thomas Bach said, “No, there is no doubt about that,” while 87 Israeli Olympic athletes traveled to France to participate under the Israeli flag.

Israel finished the Paris Games with seven medals, including Tom Reuveny’s gold in men’s windsurfing at Marseille Marina.

However, the IOC condemned Russia’s actions and sanctioned its athletes.

“Because war is the antithesis of the Olympic ideal,” said IOC vice-president John Coates. “We condemn the acts of the Russian Federation. They have lost their right to be members of the international Olympic community.”

He added that Russian athletes at the Paris Games would compete as “neutral individual athletes” and “participate without the Russian flag or anthem.”

“Individual Neutral Athletes (AINs) are athletes with Belarusian or Russian passports who have been confirmed as eligible and invited to compete at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games,” the IOC said in July.

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