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Asian Football Confederation Backs Proposal to Suspend Israel From FIFA Amid War in Gaza
Soccer fans carrying an Israeli flag at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. Photo: Reuters/Henry Romero.
Asia’s governing body for soccer on Thursday announced its support for a proposal by the Palestine Football Association (PFA) to suspend Israel from FIFA due to its military campaign targeting Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip.
Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa made the announcement at the 34th AFC Congress in Bangkok, Thailand.
“The AFC is only as strong as its members and when one suffers, all its other members are affected,” Salman told delegates. “The AFC stands together with the Palestine FA, and we join them in seeking effective football-related solutions to the grievances raised by the Palestine FA in their proposal.”
AFC’s 47-member Congress includes Australia, Jordan, Lebanon, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. FIFA President Gianni Infantino also attended the gathering on Thursday.
“We, as a football community and as a governing body of the most popular sport in the world, have a statutory commitment to uphold the FIFA and AFC objectives and take appropriate steps to prevent infringements of FIFA and AFC statutes and regulations,” Salman added. “It is our duty to support the Palestine FA for a swift and effective resolution in line with the rules, regulations, and statutes of the AFC and FIFA.”
AFC’s president additionally said the governing body is committed to standing in “solidarity and unity” with the PFA. “There is potential for us to play a dynamic role in standing up for human rights, including within our own sphere of operations,” he said.
During AFC’s Congress on Thursday, delegates stood for a moment of silence in honor of the victims of the Israel-Hamas war and were shown a video that drew attention to the destruction in the Gaza Strip caused by the conflict, which Hamas started with its deadly rampage across southern Israel on Oct. 7. The Israeli military has responded with a campaign aimed at freeing the hostages abducted by Hamas and destroying the Palestinian terrorist group, which rules Gaza.
The AFC Congress took place one day before the 74th FIFA Congress, where the governing body will address the PFA’s motion to ban Israel’s teams from international competitions. PFA’s President Jibril Rajoub thanked the AFC Congress for its stance and said he hopes to garner more support from the FIFA Congress on Friday.
“I hope that FIFA President Gianni Infantino realizes the meaning and content of what Sheikh Salman said, supporting the implementation of international laws to protect Palestinian sports,” Rajoub said. “Tomorrow, at the FIFA General Assembly meeting, our battle will be launched by the Asian Confederation in solidarity with us, and we hope to continue to align and support it in the International Congress in accordance with FIFA’s regulations and laws.” He also accused Israel of “racist practices” and “genocide” targeting Palestinians.
In March, PFA formally submitted a proposal to FIFA that called for Israel’s removal from the governing body in response to “grave human rights and humanitarian law violations committed by Israel.” The motion also accuses the Israel Football Association (IFA) of “providing moral, economic, and practical support to the occupation” of Palestinian territories, saying “the IFA is complicit in the Israeli government’s violations against Palestinian football.”
The motion has already garnered support from federations representing Algeria, Qatar, Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. FIFA is expected to discuss and potentially vote on the proposal on Friday. Football Australia — the governing body of soccer, futsal, and beach soccer within Australia — has reportedly decided to abtain from any possible vote on the matter.
PFA similarly tried to push FIFA to boycott Israel in 2015 when it claimed that the Jewish state did not allow free movement of Palestinian or foreign players. The proposal was dropped by the Palestinians just before the vote.
In February, the 12-member West Asian Football Federations wrote a letter to FIFA, its national member associations, and its regional confederations, including European governing body UEFA, calling for Israel to be banned “from all football-related activities” and for soccer leaders to take “a decisive stand against the atrocities committed in Palestine and the war crimes in Gaza.”
Meanwhile, ticket sales have been suspended for a Belgium-Israel match in the UEFA Nations League that is set to take place on Sept. 6 in Brussels because of security concerns, likely attributed to anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian demonstrators who have repeatedly protested in Brussels since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas. The Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA) announced on Thursday that no tickets are currently on sale for the match at King Baudouin Stadium. The RBFA said it “is in permanent contact with the security services, the city of Brussels, and the federal government” and security concerns are “being analyzed.”
“We know that a sold-out King Baudouin stadium gives a huge boost to our Red Devils … For the match against Israel, we are in contact with the authorities,”said RBFA CEO Piet Vandendriessche. “But safety comes first, always.”
The post Asian Football Confederation Backs Proposal to Suspend Israel From FIFA Amid War in Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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250 Hezbollah Terrorists Including 21 Commanders Eliminated in Ground Op
DF operating in southern Lebanon. Photo: IDF Spokesperson
i24 News – The Israeli military eliminated 250 Hezbollah terrorists including 21 commanders in four days of ground combat, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Friday.
IDF soldiers operating in southern Lebanon have uncovered vast caches of weapons and munitions in civilian residences, showing how central embedding within civilian population is to Hezbollah’s mode of warfare.
Meanwhile, heavy strikes targeting the Hezbollah stronghold of Dahieh in southern Beirut were ongoing, Lebanese media reported.
The post 250 Hezbollah Terrorists Including 21 Commanders Eliminated in Ground Op first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Airstrikes Launched on Several Parts of Yemen, Houthi Al Masirah TV says
Illustrative. Hodeidah, Yemen, July 20, 2024. Houthi Military Media/Handout via REUTERS
Airstrikes were launched on Friday at several parts of Yemen including its capital Sanaa and Hodeidah airport, Al Masirah TV, the main television news outlet run by the Houthi movement controlling much of Yemen, and residents said.
Strikes also targeted the south of Dhamar city and the southeast of al-Bayda province, the channel added.
Residents said that the attack on al-Bayda province targeted several Houthi military outposts.
Al Masirah TV reported that the strikes had been carried out by the United States and British forces, but a British government source said Britain was not involved.
Iran-aligned Houthi militants have launched attacks on international shipping near Yemen since last November in solidarity with Palestinians in Israel‘s war with Hamas.
The attacks have drawn US and British retaliatory strikes and disrupted global trade as ship owners reroute vessels away from the Red Sea and Suez Canal to sail the longer route around the southern tip of Africa.
Following the airstrikes, a Houthi spokesman called the attack “a desperate attempt,” adding that “Yemen will not be deterred by these attacks and will continue its steadfastness in confronting the enemies.”
The post Airstrikes Launched on Several Parts of Yemen, Houthi Al Masirah TV says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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IDF Kills Hamas Commander in Tulkarem
Illustrative. Israeli troops during counterterrorism activity in Tulkarem, northwestern Samaria, September 2024. Photo: IDF.
JNS.org – An Israeli Air Force fighter jet conducted a rare strike in Tulkarem in the West Bank on Thursday night, targeting top Hamas terrorist Zahi Yaser Abd al-Razeq Oufi.
The Palestinian Authority reported at least 18 fatalities in the strike, with a local security source telling Agence France-Presse it was the deadliest in Judea and Samaria since the Second Intifada.
Ayyth Radwan, the head of Islamic Jihad’s Tulkarem branch, was also reportedly killed.
Oufi was planning a terrorist attack “in the immediate time frame,” according to the Israel Defense Forces, and directed the thwarted car bombing last month near Ateret in the Binyamin region of Samaria.
There were no casualties in the incident, which Israel Ganz, the head of the Binyamin Regional Council, called a “great miracle.”
The IDF said Oufi was involved in smuggling weapons to terrorists who perpetrated several recent attacks against Israelis, including some that resulted in injuries to civilians.
He also “worked to establish terrorist networks on behalf of Hamas and assisted terror operatives in the area to carry out significant shooting and explosive attacks,” added the military.
The post IDF Kills Hamas Commander in Tulkarem first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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