ZURICH.- The FIFA It stopped short of suspending the Israeli soccer federation on Thursday, but called for a disciplinary investigation into possible discrimination reported by Palestinian soccer authorities.
A high-ranking FIFA panel will separately investigate “the participation in Israeli competitions of the country’s football teams allegedly based in the territory of Palestine,” football’s governing body said after a meeting of its Council.
The federation Palestine Football has consistently called on FIFA — for more than a decade — to take action against the soccer federation. Israel for incorporating teams from West Bank settlements into their leagues.
The decisions came more than four months after Palestinian authorities urged FIFA to suspend Israel at a meeting in May.
The request to FIFA’s congress in May also cited “violations of international law” in Gaza during the conflict between Israel and Hamas and ordered the soccer body to uphold its legal commitments on human rights and anti-discrimination.
long wait
FIFA delayed making a decision in May until after a legal review scheduled for July, then rescheduled the same review twice more until Thursday’s meeting.
“The FIFA Council has implemented due diligence on this very sensitive matter and, on the exhaustive assessment, we have followed the advice of independent experts,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in a statement.
The latest process follows a pattern – under Infantino and his predecessor Sepp Blatter – of Palestinian requests for FIFA to maintain its legal statutes and then be redirected to panels and committees.
FIFA did not give a timeline Thursday for the investigations it has not requested.
