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The UEFA Europa League, Europe’s biggest soccer body, is reportedly moving toward a vote to suspend Israel over the war in Gaza, according to The Associated Press.
A majority of UEFA’s 20-member executive committee is expected to support any vote in favor of suspending Israeli teams from international play, per the outlet. It would prevent the Israeli national team and club teams from playing in international competitions, including next year’s World Cup.
An Israel Football Federation (IFA) spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the organization does not have “any indication” that it is facing the vote.
“I don’t know on what sources the story is based on besides the late publications. We don’t have any indications that we are facing such an act. We are focusing on our international matches against Norway and Italy. This is, to tell the truth, much challenging,” the spokesperson said.
A State Department spokesperson told the AP it will work to stop any efforts that tried to ban Israel’s team from the World Cup.
Israel’s sports and culture minister, Miki Zohar, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the head of Israel’s soccer federation, Moshe Zuares, have been working “intensively behind the scenes” to block efforts to oust Israel from UEFA, Zohar’s office said Thursday. “The right step now is to act responsibly with the professionals and not to make statements, and this is how all the parties involved in the efforts are acting. We will address this later.”
Israel’s men’s team is currently set to resume its World Cup qualifying campaign in two weeks with away games against Norway and Italy.
Last year, the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) proposed a suspension for Israel over the war in Gaza. The PFA proposal to 211 member federations called for “appropriate sanctions, with immediate effect, against Israeli teams,” according to FIFA documents released this year.
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The PFA’s proposal was enough to convince FIFA to seek an independent legal council and hold a landmark council meeting to make a decision on whether to suspend Israel from international soccer because of the conflict with Hamas. FIFA ultimately didn’t suspend Israel, but did launch an independent investigation into the alleged discrimination.
Then, earlier this week, seven independent experts working with the U.N. Human Rights Council urged FIFA and UEFA to suspend Israel from international competitions.
UEFA and its president, Aleksander Ceferin, signaled a tougher view on Israel last month when banners saying “Stop Killing Children. Stop Killing Civilians” were placed on the field in front of the Paris Saint-Germain and Tottenham teams ahead of the Super Cup game in Udine, Italy.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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