Israel has killed 808 athletes in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the genocide, erasing a large portion of Palestinian sports, the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) said in August.
Israel’s anti-Qatar campaigns have extended to sports with the launch of a new disinformation campaign attempting to undermine global calls to hold it accountable.
Reports by Israeli media outlets widely spread across social media platforms on Saturday, alleging that Qatar alone was pushing for accountability against Israel through UEFA, disregarding wider calls for its suspension from sports.
A report by Israel Hayom alleged that Qatar was lobbying efforts to expel Israel from UEFA this week following the Israeli attack on its territory on September 9.
However, one European football source told Doha News that it is an attempt to shift the focus away from Israel’s wider violations.
The source also dismissed reports that a meeting is arranged for Tuesday to vote for Israel’s expulsion, while noting that Qatar is not a member federation of UEFA.
“It’s a complete delegitimisation and smear campaign. Israel 101. Blame Qatar, so everyone ignores the undeniable, glaring and universal facts — so they can continue their campaign of terror,” the source told Doha News.
“The whole international football community has been calling for action for years — national federations, clubs, players, coaches, fans,” the source added.
Since Israel waged the genocide in the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, demands for accountability echoed globally, including in the sports world.
Within less than two years, Israel has killed at least 65,208 people, mainly women and children, in Gaza, with thousands of others still trapped under the rubble or missing.
In February 2024, Qatar was among 12 football associations from the Middle East that signed a letter calling on FIFA to ban Israel from participating in global tournaments. The letter was also sent to 211 football federations, including UEFA.
More recently, on Monday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called on global sporting bodies to ban Israel from competitions, highlighting the double-standard approach towards Israel’s genocide in Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“The sports organisations should consider whether it’s ethical for Israel to keep participating in international competitions. Why expel Russia after the invasion of Ukraine and not expel Israel after the invasion of Gaza?” he asked.
Pro-Palestine chants and posters have also flooded football matches globally, reflecting the fans’ outrage against Israel’s ongoing atrocities in the Gaza Strip.
Such sentiment was highlighted in June when Paris Saint-Germain supporters raised a banner saying “Stop genocide in Gaza” during the Champions League final in Germany.
Last week, Italian fans also staged a protest ahead of the World Cup qualifier against Israel. The fans collectively turned their backs while Israel’s national anthem played as some raised banners with the word ‘Stop’.
#GameOverIsrael campaign
Some of the latest campaigns calling for action against Israel in the sports world include Game Over Israel, which was launched on September 17 by a coalition of human rights organisations, football fan associations, former football players, advocacy groups, and influencers.
The campaign called on football federations in numerous European countries to boycott Israel’s entire sports presence, demanding action in protest of the genocide in the Gaza Strip. The campaign is also advised by Dr Ghassan Abu Sittah, a British-Palestinian Plastic Surgeon who worked in Gaza.
Craig Mokhiber, a former United Nations Human Rights official and a specialist in international human rights law, highlighted Israel’s violations in a press release over the campaign’s launch.
“None of us will be able to say we did not know. Inaction in such circumstances is complicity. But we do have the power to act. Sport is a powerful social force. And football, ‘the beautiful game,’ can be a powerful channel for action[…]Keep football beautiful,” he said.
Israel has killed 808 athletes in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the genocide, erasing a large portion of Palestinian sports, the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) said in August.
The figure included 421 football players.
Israel has also partially or fully destroyed 288 sports facilities across Gaza and the West Bank, including the Palestine Football Association’s headquarters.
Palestinian footballers often struggle to find locations to play matches due to the destruction of facilities across Palestinian lands by Israeli forces, while also struggling to meet for practice as they would require Israeli permits to pass through Israeli checkpoints.
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