LONDON: Amnesty International on Tuesday denounced Israel\u2019s participation in the men\u2019s UEFA Nations League, calling it \u201cunconscionable\u201d and a \u201cbetrayal of Palestinians, football\u2019s own rules and human rights.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement ahead of the opening matches of the 2026-27 UEFA Nations League group stage, Steve Cockburn, Amnesty International\u2019s regional director for Europe, said UEFA should suspend the Israel Football Association over the participation of clubs based in Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s unconscionable that the Israel men\u2019s football team will participate in the UEFA Nations League this autumn despite clear evidence that Israel\u2019s football association continues to support illegal settlements,\u201d Cockburn said.<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead of sending a clear message that there is a cost for Israel\u2019s unlawful occupation of the occupied Palestinian territory and its atrocity crimes against Palestinians, UEFA is giving Israel an international stage as it maintains its brutal occupation of the OPT, its system of apartheid over all Palestinians, and its ongoing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cockburn warned that allowing Israel to compete helped to normalize Israel\u2019s occupation of Palestinian territory, apartheid against Palestinians and genocide in Gaza.<\/p>\n
\u201cUEFA and FIFA should have suspended the Israel Football Association long ago, for its refusal to exclude clubs based in illegal settlements in the OPT,\u201d he said. \u201cTheir continued participation in the Israeli leagues is in brazen violation of FIFA\u2019s statutes and is contrary to international law.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the money keeps flowing from FIFA and UEFA to the IFA, they risk contributing to the sustainability of illegal settlements and of Israel\u2019s unlawful occupation of the OPT, and therefore Israel\u2019s violations of Palestinians\u2019 human rights.\u201d<\/p>\n
He cited decisions and opinions from international courts, along with UN General Assembly and Security Council resolutions, that have criticized Israel\u2019s \u201cegregious violations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cockburn said: \u201cSport should never be used as a public relations spectacle for states committing atrocities. As political leaders and sporting authorities choose to stay on the sidelines, fueling Israel\u2019s impunity, fans are stepping onto the pitch to demand accountability, justice and fair play.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen rules are broken, when occupation, apartheid and genocide are ongoing, we cannot look the other way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Israel are scheduled to compete in League B of the 2026-27 Nations League alongside Austria, Ireland and Kosovo. The group phase is set to be played in two windows: Sept. 24-Oct. 6 and Nov. 12-17.<\/p>\n
The fixtures have drawn particular opposition in Ireland, where the Stop the Game campaign has called for Israel\u2019s exclusion from football competitions.<\/p>\n
Football associations, players, activists, trade unions, artists and politicians have also called for sanctions, a boycott or suspension of Ireland\u2019s scheduled matches against Israel on Sept. 27 and Oct. 4.<\/p>\n
The Football Association of Ireland has formally asked UEFA to consider suspending Israel from UEFA competitions. UEFA, however, approved the Nations League schedule and authorized the use of \u201cneutral venues\u201d where necessary in countries other than Israel and Ireland.<\/p>\n
Ireland\u2019s matches against Israel are scheduled to be played behind closed doors at neutral venues in Hungary and Serbia, with spectators barred from the stadiums.<\/p>\n
Amnesty said it wrote to FIFA and UEFA in October 2025 urging them to suspend the Israel Football Association unless settlement clubs were immediately removed from Israeli domestic leagues.<\/p>\n
The Palestinian Football Association has separately taken its challenge to the Court of Arbitration for Sport after FIFA rejected complaints concerning Israeli settlement clubs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONDON: Amnesty International on Tuesday denounced Israel\u2019s participation in the men\u2019s UEFA Nations League, calling it \u201cunconscionable\u201d and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":624267,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":["post-624266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624266","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=624266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/624267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}