Amnesty slams FIFA for refusing to sanction Israel over illegal settler clubs

Amnesty International has condemned FIFA after it refused to take against Israel's football association over the involvement of teams based in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.

In a decision announced Thursday, the global football body said it had turned down a request by the Palestine Football Association to impose sanctions on the IFA for allowing settler clubs to participate in the league.

FIFA said it had chosen not to take action because "the final legal status of the West Bank remains an unresolved and highly complex matter under public international law".

The organisation's refusal to sanction Israel comes despite the International Court of Justice ruling in 2024 that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory is illegal under international law.

"By refusing to take action against clubs based in Israeli settlements, FIFA has failed to enforce its own rules and is blatantly flouting international law," said Steve Cockburn, Amnesty's head of economic and social justice, said in a statement on Friday.

"FIFA had a clear opportunity to stand up for Palestinians’ rights and international law – with this decision it has shamefully chosen to abandon both."

At least six clubs in the Israeli football league are based in settlements.

Both FIFA and European football's governing body UEFA have provided funding to Israel's football association, making them potential contributors to illegal settlement activity in the West Bank.

IFA handed fine for racism

In a separate decision, FIFA fined the Israeli Football Association 155,000 Swiss Francs (£141,700) for multiple breaches of anti-racism rules.

The organisation's disciplinary committee found the IFA had "failed to take meaningful action against Beitar Jerusalem" whose fans had engaged in "persistent and well-documented racist behaviour".

Beitar Jerusalem's fans are notorious for their anti-Arab racism, and the club remains the only Israeli club to never have signed an Arab player.

The fine follows an October 2024 request by the Palestinian FA to investigate allegations of racism by the IFA.

The Palestinian football body had pushed for the IFA to be suspended.

"[Beitar Jerusalem's] use of slogans such as 'forever pure' and the repeated changing of ethnic slurs such as 'terrorist' directed at Arab players, are not isolated incidents but rather form part of a systemic pattern of conduct that offends the basic rules of decent behaviour and brings the sport into disrepute," the committee said in its report.

Alongside the fine, the IFA will also be required to display "a significant and highly visible banner with the words 'Football Unites the World - No to Discrimination'" at the next three home games.