Ramallah- Within the extermination war on the Gaza Strip, the occupation forces killed Palestinian athletes, equivalent to the squad of 72 football teams, as well as the destruction of sports infrastructure in the Strip.
Although the occupation authorities continued their crimes and the issuance of two arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Minister of War, Joav Galant, and Israeli athletes involved in the war, all of this was not sufficient to push the FIFA to take measures against players, teams, or even the Israeli Football Association, according to the Palestinian Olympic Committee.
A sports expert says that the “double standards” and FIFA’s dependence on the decision of political levels deprives the Palestinians of their most basic sporting rights.
Sports victims with numbers
According to data obtained by Al -Jazeera Net from the Palestinian Olympic Committee, the number of martyrs of the Palestinian sports movement in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank exceeded 800, in addition to 30 wounded and 26 detainees, since October 7, 2023 until today.
Among the martyrs are 418 martyrs enrolled in the Palestinian Football Association, including 97 children, 243 martyrs from the Palestinian Olympic Committee, 117 Palestinian Scouts, and others.
Official data say that most of the martyrs in the category 6 to 20 years, then the age group from 20 to 30 years, and among the martyrs are more than 35 sports martyrs.
July martyrs
According to the Assistant Secretary -General of the Palestinian Olympic Committee, member of the Executive Bureau of the Palestinian Football Association, Muhammad Al -Amsi, 27 athletes have been martyred since the beginning of July.
“11 athletes were martyred during the second week of July, bringing the number of martyrs of the sports, youth and scouts from the beginning of the month to 27 martyrs, that is, at a rate of nearly two martyrs daily,” he said in his Facebook account.
In terms of infrastructure, the total or partial destruction of 286 sports facilities, including 146 facilities affiliated with the Football Association, including 133 in the Gaza Strip and 13 in the West Bank, 135 followed by the Olympic Committee and 5 followed by Palestinian Scouts and others.
Among the destroyed facilities are 40 five stadiums or clubs, 23 large local stadiums, 12 international stadiums belonging to the Football Association, 35 sports halls, 58 administrative headquarters, 15 basketball stadiums, 48 bodybuilding halls, 9 equestrian clubs and horse stables.
FIFA’s silence
In front of these crimes, the Palestinian Olympic Committee said that the number of martyrs of the sports movement “equals the elimination of 72 soccer teams.”
She criticized in a statement – issued last weekend and posted on her Facebook page – the FIFA’s silence on these crimes, and said, “The stadiums were bombed, training centers were transferred to ruins, and entire sports societies were wiped, however, FIFA is silent.”
She added that some martyrs are young football players who were hoping to leave Gaza through sports, coaches, referees and swimmers, “but for FIFA, this is still not enough to move.”
She referred to the service of Israeli players – two registered clubs in FIFA clubs – as soldiers in the war on Gaza, explaining that some of them published pictures of themselves in the military uniform and they are fully armed, and they are active in the fighting areas, including “a very raging picture, published on the official Bitar Jerusalem channel on Telegram, showing a soldier and football player who puts their shoes on a Palestinian skull.”
“This is not just an ethical scandal, but a violation of everything that sport is supposed to represent. However, FIFA did not suspend the membership of the player, club or Israeli Football Association, not achieving, no sanctions, no questions.”
The statement concluded that FIFA has two options “either to continue to protect the image of those involved in the war, or finally stand by justice, and with hundreds of athletes who will not be able to play again.”
A picture of an Israeli soldier trampling the skull of a Palestinian martyr in Gaza.
God suffices us and yes, the agent pic.twitter.com/7vgc6hzccj
– #Jerusalem_titse 🇵🇸 (@MyPalestine0) February 25, 2025
Double standards
Commenting on the statement of the Olympic Committee, the sports journalist, and the secretary of the former Palestinian Football Association, Badr Makki says: “There is a lobby in FIFA affiliated with the United States and Western countries is the one who decides to make decisions and implement them.”
He added in his speech to Al -Jazeera Net that “the decision in FIFA is not neutral, but it is taken with the influence of European pressure groups in particular, so it was easy to punish Russia as Ukraine is a European country and adjacent to most European countries.”
He continued, “The logic of hegemony is not only in politics, but also in sport, within dual standards, and there is no power for Arab and Islamic federations.”
Targeting stars
For his part, sports journalist from Gaza, Yasser Youssef, told Al -Jazeera Net that “the life of every Palestinian is a target of the weapons of the Israeli occupation soldiers, including the Palestinian sports family, whether from the players, administrators or media.”
He continued that the Palestinian sports movement made a series of martyrs throughout its history full of giving and sacrifices as an integral part of the Palestinian national movement.
He pointed out that the continuation of the massacres killed a number of the stars of the Palestinian national team, including Ahmed Al -Mufti, captain of the volleyball team, who rose on June 19 after targeting a group of wives waiting for aid, east of Nuseirat camp.
“The targeting of the stars of the Palestine football team, the sons of academies and the juniors, said Youssef, who is active in documenting the functioning of the athletic martyrs -.
Among the last joints of the convoy of the martyrs – according to the documentation of the Palestinian journalist – the player of Al -Ahly Al -Nuseirat Club, the services of Nuseirat, the source and the Zawaida Union Ahmed Abu Dahrouj, who was killed on July 13, the leader of the Al -Yasser Scout Group in eastern Gaza, Mustafa Quneita, who was martyred on July 12, and a member of the former Al -Ahly Nuseirat Club, Eid Salman Younis, and the player of Al -Masdar and Al -Aqsa Hadi Mahmoud July.
