Calls to ban Israel are on a rise | Image Credits: IMAGO/Anadolu Agency
Members of Irish soccer's governing body voted overwhelmingly on Saturday for its board to request that UEFA immediately suspend the Israel Football Association from European competitions, the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) said.
A resolution passed by the FAI members cited alleged violations by Israel's Football Association of two provisions of UEFA statutes: its failure to implement and enforce an effective anti-racism policy and the playing by Israeli clubs in occupied Palestinian territories without the consent of the Palestinian Football Association.
The resolution, proposed by one of Ireland's leading clubs, Bohemian FC, was backed by 74 votes, with seven opposed and two abstentions, the FAI said in a statement.
A spokesperson for UEFA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
UEFA considered holding a vote early last month on whether to suspend Israel from European competitions over the war in Gaza, a source told Reuters at the time. Internal discussions at UEFA about a possible ban were set aside after a U.S.-brokered ceasefire took effect on October 10.
The Irish resolution follows calls in September from the heads of the Turkish and Norwegian soccer governing bodies for Israel to be suspended from international competition.
Those requests came after United Nations experts appealed to FIFA and UEFA to suspend Israel from international football, citing a U.N. Commission of Inquiry report that said Israel had committed genocide during the war in Gaza.
Israel has denied committing genocide and described the report as scandalous.
If UEFA decided to ban Israel, it would put the organisation on a collision course with the government of the United States -- co-hosts for the 2026 World Cup -- which strongly opposes such an action.
Even though Europe's governing body has the power to suspend Israel or its clubs from the region's competitions, it may not be able to stop them from competing in World Cup qualifiers, which fall under the ambit of global soccer body FIFA.
On Friday, senior U.S. Republican lawmaker Lindsey Graham criticised the FAI for holding the vote and pledged to do everything in his power to "make those who participate in this effort to marginalize Israel in sports, and elsewhere, pay a heavy price when it comes to access to the American economy".
Graham is one of a number of U.S. lawmakers who criticised the Irish government's plans to restrict trade with Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territories.
Ireland has been one of the European Union's most outspoken critics of Israel's war in Gaza. Sources told Reuters last month that the bill to impose sanctions on Israeli settlements is set to be blunted after lobbying by U.S. businesses.
The war was triggered by a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 69,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, health officials in Gaza say, and has caused widespread devastation and hunger.
