FIFA has again postponed a decision on a Palestinian request to exclude Israel from international football competitions due to the Israeli war on Gaza.
FIFA said on Friday that it will study the Palestinian Football Association’s requests against its Israeli counterpart next October.
The Palestinian FA submitted a request to exclude Israel last May, and FIFA ordered an urgent legal assessment and promised to consider the matter at an extraordinary meeting of its council in July.
FIFA said last month it would present the legal assessment to its council by August 31.
The Zurich-based International Federation announced that the evaluation would be postponed until October.
“FIFA has received the independent legal assessment of the Palestinian Football Association’s claims against Israel,” he said. “This assessment will be sent to the FIFA Council for review so that it can be discussed at its next meeting in October.”
FIFA declined to disclose further details about the evaluation or the specific date for the meeting in October.
The Palestinian Federation did not respond to requests for comment.
The Palestinian request accuses the Israel Football Association of complicity in violations of international law by the Israeli government, discrimination against Arab players and inclusion of clubs based in the Palestinian territories in the Israeli league.
The Israeli Federation rejected these accusations.
The Palestinian Football Association said that at least 92 Palestinian players were killed in the Gaza war, football infrastructure was destroyed, leagues were suspended and the Palestinian national team was forced to play qualifiers.
World Cup away.
In its request, the Palestinian Federation called on FIFA to impose “appropriate sanctions” against Israeli teams, including the national team and clubs.