World football can strike a blow against Israel – if it has the courage

Four days after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Fifa and Uefa, the international and European football authorities, banned all Russian teams from playing in their competitions. “Football is fully united here and in full solidarity with all the people affected in Ukraine,” they said.

- Steve Bloomfield International Editor

On Friday, 699 days after Israel began its war in Gaza, the Israeli men’s national football team will play a World Cup qualifier against Moldova. Football is not in “full solidarity” with the people of Gaza.

When the war began, there was a fundamental difference between Russia’s unprovoked full invasion of Ukraine and Israel's response to the Hamas attack, which killed 1,200 people and saw a further 250 taken hostage. But the destruction of Gaza swiftly moved beyond what any reasonable person could argue was a “proportionate response”.

Over the past 22 months the Israeli military have killed more than 63,000 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them civilians. Every week brings fresh war crimes: the assassination of journalists, the bombing of a cafe, the shooting of starving people queuing for food. The country’s prime minister has been indicted by the International Criminal Court. Numerous genocide scholars and two leading Israeli human rights groups believe Israel is carrying out a genocide.

But in the world of sport, Israel continues to play as if nothing has happened. The Palestinian Football Association has repeatedly called for Israel to be banned - and Fifa has repeatedly procrastinated.