SA’s ‘genocide’ lawyers take aim at Israel soccer

As FIFA contemplates whether or not to ban Israel from participating in international soccer, it’s legal analysis from South African lawyers that the organisation will be using to make its decision.

FIFA, the global soccer governing body, will use a report from the same South African lawyers who represented South Africa at the International Court of Justice “genocide” case in early 2024. They are attorney Max du Plessis, who cowrote the analysis to ban Israel with Sarah Pudifin-Jones.

In a month, FIFA will decide whether to ban Israel temporarily from participating in international soccer, a move that could have significant consequences for the soccer-loving nation.

Du Plessis and Pudifin-Jones have claimed that Israel must be banned from any soccer-related activities for violating FIFA’s statutes amid the war against the Hamas terror group in Gaza.

They argue that “Israel’s conduct demands censure in line with the position adopted by FIFA in relation to similar egregious violations of its objectives and internationally recognised human rights”.

The demand stems from the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) approaching FIFA.

The two South African advocates, who specialise in international law and human rights, have been at the forefront of the push to oust Israel from competing on the international stage. Their analysis was commissioned by Eko, a global non-profit, social justice organisation.

Eko has put pressure on FIFA to take decisive action.

Vicky Wyatt, Eko’s senior campaign director, told the SA Jewish Report, “We’re member-led, so if our members indicate that they would like us to work on an issue, we’ll run a campaign on it. Eko members indicated that they wanted us to campaign on this issue, and more than 400 000 members have signed our petition.”

In recent years, when the PFA brought motions to suspend Israel from international soccer, FIFA didn’t impose sanctions. In 2017, FIFA declared that the matter was closed, and it wouldn’t be subject to further discussion until the legal or de facto framework changed.

The report argued that developments since October 2023 had given rise to “a new legal framework that necessitates FIFA’s intervention”.

Israel faces a potential ban from competing in a sport extremely popular in the country.

At no time was soccer’s prominence more apparent than this week, as murdered hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, was laid to rest. All year, his face has been a fixture at Hapoel Jerusalem Football Club games, a club in Israel’s top-tier Premier League.

“After nearly a year of crying out his name and praying for his safety, the mourning is unbearable, and words can’t begin to describe it,” the club said. Its message was one of countless shared by team and fans throughout the past year as Goldberg-Polin became a symbol for the team itself, with banners bearing his name and face accompanied by messages like: “Bring Hersh Home!” commonplace at every match.

The PFA submitted its official proposal in May, and a decision is now expected in October. FIFA has postponed the ruling several times, including days before the Olympics – a tournament in which the Palestinians also challenged Israel’s participation – and again ahead of its planned 31 August announcement.

FIFA sought independent legal review, and solicited input from both the Israeli and Palestinian soccer federations.

In a statement on X last Friday, 30 August, FIFA said, “FIFA has received independent legal assessment of the Palestine Football Association’s proposals against the Israel Football Association [IFA]. This will be sent to the FIFA council to review in order that the subject can be discussed at its next meeting, which will take place in October.”

Israel has firmly denied the accusations in the PFA’s claim, which IFA Chairperson Moshe Zuares called a “cynical, political, and hostile attempt by the Palestinian Association to harm Israeli football”.

Said Rolene Marks, the spokesperson for the South African Zionist Federation, “Hamas started the war, and Israel is defending itself against a group whose stated aim is to annihilate Israel from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. It’s odd then that the PFA wishes Israel to be excluded from FIFA tournaments when Israel wasn’t the aggressor. Israel has the right under international law to defend its borders.”

She said that if all countries that defended themselves against war or were prepared to defend their citizens from terrorists were forced to step away from international sport, there would be no-one left to play.

“Moreover, this isn’t a once-off request but part of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions group’s push to delegitimise Israel.

“Sport is a great unifier of groups across languages and culture, and shouldn’t be used by lawyers and nongovernmental organisations to sow division,” Marks said.

“We take the time to remember one of the six murdered hostages, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who loved soccer and was murdered by Hamas, the very terror group Israel is trying to stop as it defends itself.”

A ban would have an immediate effect on Israel’s national team, which is to compete in the upcoming Nations League tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), the European division of FIFA, of which Israel is a member. Israel plays its first tournament match against Belgium on 6 September in a game that has already been mired in controversy as Belgium refused to host the match citing security concerns.

The game will instead be played in Debrecen, Hungary. The tournament’s initial phase extends into November, and the playoffs continue through June 2025, meaning Israel’s participation could be interrupted should it advance.

Depending on the duration of a possible ban, Israel could also be excluded from the qualifying tournament for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which begins in March, and from other future European and global tournaments. Last summer, Israel finished third at the 2023 Under-20 World Cup and reached the semi-final in the UEFA European U-21 Championship.

FIFA banned Russia from international competition just days after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and South Africa was banned for more than 20 years over its apartheid policies.