Global football campaign aims to boycott Israel

LONDON: Major football federations are being pressured to boycott matches against Israel as part of a new global campaign launched by high-profile organizations and figures from the world’s most popular sport. 

The #GameOverIsrael campaign was launched on Tuesday by a major coalition of human rights groups, fan associations, former players and influencers across nine major footballing countries: Belgium, England, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Scotland and Spain.

As part of the campaign, organizers are calling on the football federations of their countries to boycott Israel’s national team and club teams, and prevent Israeli footballers from playing in their domestic leagues.

A press release issued by the campaign said it aims to “take a principled stand against Israel’s ongoing assault on Palestinian life and infrastructure, including sports facilities and athletes in Gaza.”

Through the power of football fans, “ordinary people across the world can join the chorus and demand accountability by joining a local protest and applying pressure on the football federations, who run the game they love and support, to take immediate action,” it added.

Israel has long used sports and culture to whitewash its violations of international law and human rights, said Richard Falk, former UN special rapporteur on the Occupied Territories.

He added: “Sporting governing bodies have been shamefully complicit during this genocide. It’s perfectly legitimate and morally imperative to demand that football federations across Europe and the world boycott Israel. Normalcy is complicity in this abnormal time of prolonged genocide.”

The campaign follows a series of measures by European countries to pressure Israel to end the Gaza