{"id":330423,"date":"2026-03-09T20:26:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T20:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/330423\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T20:26:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T20:26:08","slug":"israel-asks-australia-to-grant-asylum-to-iranian-players","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/330423\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel asks Australia to grant asylum to Iranian players"},"content":{"rendered":"

Israel asked Australia<\/a> to grant asylum to members of the Iranian women\u2019s soccer<\/a> team on Monday after the players were labeled as traitors by hardliners for refusing to sing the national anthem of the Islamic Republic during the Women\u2019s Asian Cup.<\/p>\n

The women did not sing \u201cSorude Melliye Jomhuriye Eslamiye Iran\u201d (National Anthem of the Islamic Republic of Iran), an ideological anthem focusing on the 1979 revolution, faith, and the Islamic state, ahead of their match last Monday.<\/p>\n

However, CNN reported that they were forced to perform the anthem before their two subsequent matches in addition to making the Iranian military salute. The initial refusal prompted accusations of treason from hardliners within the Iranian regime and a global outcry to grant asylum to the players in Australia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am writing to you with urgency and deep concern following appeals from members of the Iranian women\u2019s national football team, who are seeking international assistance in order to avoid returning to Iran, a country where there is a real threat to their freedom and even to their lives,\u201d Israel\u2019s Innovation, Science, and Technology Minister Gila Gamliel said in a letter to the Australian ambassador in Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe players have expressed profound fear of persecution, oppression, and personal harm should they be forced to return to their homeland. They are asking for the opportunity to live in safety, freedom, and dignity, fundamental values upon which the world\u2019s leading democracies are built,\u201d her letter continued. \u201cThese are courageous women who seek only the most basic right to live without fear.\u201d<\/p>\n

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that Australia was \u201cmaking a terrible humanitarian mistake\u201d by allowing Iran\u2019s national women\u2019s soccer team to be sent back to the Islamic Republic and called on the Australian government to give asylum to team members, Reuters reported.<\/p>\n

Five of the players who travelled to Australia are in the care of the Australian police, according to a statement shared by Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi<\/a> and a source who spoke to CNN.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would like to inform our compatriots and the media that five players of the Iranian women\u2019s national football team \u2013 Fatemeh Pasandideh, Zahra Ghanbari, Zahra Sarbali, Atefeh Ramezani-Zadeh, and Mona Hamoudi \u2013 have managed to leave the team\u2019s camp and seek asylum in Australia,\u201d they said in the statement.<\/p>\n

A video filmed after the women\u2019s 2-0 loss to the Philippines allegedly shows the players signing for help as their coach is being driven away.<\/p>\n

Craig Foster, a former Australian soccer player and a human rights advocate, complained to international media that a large number of organizations had been denied the opportunity to speak with the players.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo athlete group should ever be effectively held hostage by their own member federation and denied access to external support networks,\u201d he told CNN.<\/p>\n

Danielle Greyman-Kennard contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Israel asked Australia to grant asylum to members of the Iranian women\u2019s soccer team on Monday after the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":330424,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[132274,972,85,87,162248,46,15005,43,157282,157283,21454,19711],"class_list":["post-330423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-asylum-seekers","tag-australia","tag-il","tag-iran","tag-iranian-women","tag-israel","tag-israel-iran-war","tag-news","tag-operation-epic-fury","tag-operation-roaring-lion","tag-reza-pahlavi","tag-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/330424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}