On 8 July 2026, Sadaka-The Ireland Palestine Alliance, and Al-Haq, a Palestinian NGO based in Ramallah in the West Bank, Palestine, sent letters with an annexed position paper to Board Members of the Football Association of Ireland (FAI). The letters and annex warned that the determination of the FAI, and its Board of Directors, to proceed with the planned Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) fixtures between the men’s national team and the Israel Football Association (Israel FA) in Autumn 2026 constitutes complicity in the most egregious violations of international law, including the crimes of apartheid and genocide. These crimes are also clear breaches of UEFA and the International Association of Football Federations (FIFA) Statute provisions on territory and non-discrimination, as well as breaches of Directors’ fiduciary duties under Section 228 of the Companies Act 2024.
The Israel FA, through its incorporation of illegal settlement teams, is clearly responsible for ongoing breaches of UEFA and FIFA Statutes, and is materially complicit in Israel’s settlement crimes, as well as the crimes of apartheid and genocide. As detailed in the Annex attached, UN experts have stressed that international football associations carrying on business as normal with the Israel FA are liable for breaches of international law, including human rights law. Such liability extends also to individual FAI Board members as well as the association.
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