‘Game Over Israel’ Campaign Demands Boycott of Israeli Soccer Clubs Over Government’s Killing of Palestinian Players
The campaign, supported by Gary Lineker, Liam Cunningham, and Eric Cantona, comes after Israel killed some 800 athletes in Gaza in the last 23 months.
A group of pro-Palestine and labor organizations, fan associations, athletes, celebrities, and human rights organizations is demanding that national soccer federations boycott Israel over its killing of hundreds of Palestinian athletes in Gaza.
The #GameOverIsrael campaign, which launched on Tuesday with a billboard in Times Square, calls on the soccer federations of Belgium, England, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Scotland, and Spain to refuse to play against Israel’s national and club teams and bar Israeli players in an effort to build pressure on FIFA and UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) to suspend the country.
"Football is the most accessible thing in the world," Ashish Prashar, a former adviser to the UK’s Middle East Peace Envoy and the manager of the campaign, told Zeteo.
"It is the people's game," he added. "And given the people are so enraged by what's going on in this genocide, how we let these individuals that support or have partaken in this genocide step foot on the pitches of the people is a shame, and football associations and federations should be ashamed ... that they've been sports-washing Israel's war crimes and genocide."
Israeli forces have killed more than 64,000 people in the past 23 months, though the number is feared to be much higher. This reportedly includes roughly 800 athletes in Gaza, with more than 400 soccer players killed, including Sulemain Al-Obeid, who was known as the “Palestinian Pele,” Mohammed Barakat, known as the “Legend of Khan Younis,” and Ahmad Abu al-Atta. Israel has also destroyed or damaged the vast majority of sports infrastructure, including stadiums, gyms, and soccer clubs, in the enclave.
Organizers of the #GameOverIsrael campaign are modeling their efforts on what happened in 2022, after a stream of soccer federations announced boycotts of Russia’s national and club teams following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, effectively forcing FIFA and UEFA to honor the boycotts and ban Russia from competition.
The campaign comes less than a year before the World Cup, co-hosted by the US, Mexico, and Canada, is set to begin. In the lead-up, FIFA president Gianni Infantino has drawn criticism for cozying up and ceding the spirit of the tournament to the pro-Israel US President Donald Trump (including scoring an office in the New York City Trump Tower).
Rising Global Pressure
The #GameOverIsrael campaign is supported by several prominent individuals, including former French soccer player Eric Cantona, English former soccer player and BBC commentator Gary Lineker, famed Italian goalkeeper Walter Zenga, Zeteo contributor Bassem Youssef, and Irish actor and ‘Game of Thrones’ star Liam Cunningham, among others.
“It’s time to boycott Israel in football. It’s been going on for too long,” Youssef said in a video statement, noting that many professional Israeli soccer players have served in the Israeli military due to the country's mandatory military service. “I don’t understand how these people should be allowed on football pitches anywhere.”
Cunningham said there’s no need to wait for UEFA or FIFA to take action on Israel. He called on fans in his home country of Ireland to demand that the Irish Football Association “have nothing to do with the Israeli national team, the local teams, and individual players. That’s how to show your solidarity.”
The campaign builds on growing calls worldwide for Israel’s soccer programs to be excluded from global competition.
On Monday, Spain’s Prime Minister called on Israeli teams to be banned from international sports competition, just as Russian teams were in 2022.
The Football Association of Ireland called on UEFA and FIFA to “adopt a strong position” regarding Israel being allowed to compete in international soccer.
Last month, the Italian Football Coaches’ Association appealed to the Italian soccer federation to call on UEFA and FIFA to suspend Israel from global competition.
In June, international legal experts told FIFA that Israel and its football association were breaking international law by holding professional matches on occupied Palestinian territory. FIFA, for its part, is still continuing its slow investigation over year-old complaints from the Palestine Football Association, related to discrimination from the Israeli Football Association and Israeli teams playing in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. Israel was also criticized for turning a 9,000-seat Gaza soccer stadium into a makeshift detention camp for Palestinians in December 2023.
The launch of the campaign comes as the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory announced that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
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