Fifa to decide on Israel football ban following Lebanon strikes and Iran attack

A decision on throwing Israel out of world football over its response to the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks is finally set to be taken by Fifa on Thursday.

A proposal for the country to be suspended from the global game has been included on the agenda for a meeting of the governing body’s ruling council in Zurich.

It comes amid a major escalation in the bloodshed in the Middle East following the killing of the leader of Hezbollah by Israel at the weekend and missile strikes on the country by Iran.

The proposal to be considered was tabled by the Palestine Football Association (PFA) in April before being raised at Fifa’s congress the following month.

What was the latest of several attempts by the PFA to get Israel thrown out of world football focused on what the federation said was the complicity of the Israel Football Association (IFA) in actions that represented “an existential threat tantamount to genocide”.

Gianni Infantino, the president of Fifa, announced at the congress that an independent legal assessment of the PFA’s proposal would need to take place, with the governing body’s council to review the assessment in July.

That review was twice delayed until this week’s meeting, which is scheduled to start at 12pm UK time.

Telegraph Sport has been told that the legal assessment has not precluded the possibility of Israel’s immediate suspension if the Fifa council votes for it, although it also recommends investigations are carried out into allegations of discrimination made by the PFA.

Speaking at May’s congress, PFA president Jibril Rajoub said: “How much more must the Palestine football family suffer for Fifa to act with the same severity and urgency as it did in other cases?

“Does Fifa consider some wars to be more important than others and some victims to be more significant?

“I ask you to stand on the right side of history. The suffering of millions, including thousands of footballers, deserves as much. If not now, then when?”

His Israeli counterpart, Moshe Zuares, said at the same event that his compatriots’ lives “had become hell” since the October 7 terrorist attacks.

“It is [an] injustice that even in these circumstances we find ourselves fighting for our basic right to be part of the game,” he added.

“We are facing a cynical political and hostile attempt by the Palestinian association to harm Israeli football.”