Palestinians urge FIFA to expel Israeli settlement clubs

Palestinian officials call on FIFA to kick out six Israeli clubs based in West Bank settlements ahead of a key meeting of soccer’s governing body.

FIFA’s executive committee is meeting Thursday and Friday and is expected to discuss the issue of clubs in the Israeli football league based in Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

In a letter to FIFA president Gianni Infantino seen by AFP Monday, the Palestine Football Association calls on FIFA to demand the Israeli soccer association expel the clubs or force them to move inside Israel’s recognized borders.

It said the world soccer body was failing to enforce its policies on “illegal, immoral and unethical behavior” as it was “permitting association football to be organized on the basis of an occupying power’s internationally prohibited acts.”

— AFP