Email the Canada Soccer Board to demand action immediately!

This week, we sent two letters to the Board of Canada Soccer, demanding they take action to ensure the Israel Football Association (IFA) is suspended from FIFA. The first letter, from Just Peace Advocates, ICJP Canada, and Al-Haq, was sent to Canada Soccer through Board President Augruso, detailing Canada Soccer’s responsibility under the statutory provisions applicable to it through various soccer regulations and international law. The second letter, from 270+ legal experts, journalists, healthcare workers, etc., was sent directly to Board Vice President Bérubé, whose “passion for human rights is matched only by his passion for soccer”, says Canada Soccer. We specifically sent Bérubé a letter based on his history with the UN Human Rights Commission and his “sustained commitment to the rights of people with disabilities” which garnered him two honorary doctorates.

The IFA must be suspended and expelled from FIFA and the UEFA. This is not the first time FIFA would be taking such an action. South Africa was suspended from FIFA in 1961 and the South Africa Football Association was expelled from FIFA in 1976. FIFA must be held accountable for the failure to follow their own policies, to begin demanding they suspend the IFA. FIFA, the UEFA, and Canada Soccer also all took swift action against Russia in the wake of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Israel, the IFA, and its players are in grave violation of FIFA Statutes, the FIFA Human Rights Policy, and international law. Some of these violations include:

• The IFA organizes soccer activities, namely FIFA-sanctioned games, in illegal settlements in occupied Palestinian territory (oPt). These clubs also employ settlers and financially benefit the settlements. Often, the clubs receive funding from settlement municipalities and regional councils. Palestinians are not allowed to enter settlements, to participate in these teams or attend as spectators, reflecting a clear example of the apartheid policies enforced by the IFA. Under FIFA Article 4, violation of the non-discrimination obligation is punishable by “suspension or expulsion.” This value is reflected in Article 5 of Canada Soccer’s By-Laws. FIFA and the UEFA have sent millions of shekels to the IFA annually, “as part of a reciprocal financial relationship in which FIFA and UEFA earn money from regional and international games in which Israeli teams play.” The land used by these teams is Palestinian land that has been illegally appropriated, in acts amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. For instance, the Givat Ze’ev field is built on Salah al-Din al-Qurt’s familial land. Israel illegally built a settlement on al-Qurt’s father’s land and subsequently declared it “off limits” for Palestinians.

• The IFA violates FIFA Article 19 and UEFA Article 7, which requires Member Associations to manage their affairs independently. In response to the PFA’s 2024 proposal, the IFA recruited the Israeli government and military. In May 2024, Israeli media reported on the “the containment battle of Israeli football against the Palestinian Proposal” and said that the IFA set up an emergency committee and recruited the help of government to sabotage the PFA Proposal before the FIFA Congress: “[t]he Israeli military is working around the clock with the goal of arriving as prepared as possible and torpedoing the initiative of the Palestinian Association”. This is not new and was brought to FIFA’s attention as early as 2013.

• The IFA visited, promoted, and supported an Air Force military base that directly engaged in genocidal acts of killing Palestinians in Gaza. This constitutes an endorsement and promotion of genocidal forces and their actions.

• Further, many of the Israeli national team players have expressed violent hate speech and incitement to commit genocide. Israeli athletes are active Israeli military members, by policy. Only those who were born and live abroad are exempt from the requirement of serving / having served in the “Israel Defense Forces”. No Israeli soccer players have spoken out against Israel’s genocide, but rather condoned and supported it. For instance, Shon Weissman (a player of the Israeli national team who was rejected by the German club Fortuna Dusseldorf due to fan backlash) has stated ““What is the logical reason why 200 tons of bombs have not already been dropped on Gaza?” and “All of Gaza supports terrorism. All of Gaza is dead” and “[W]ipe Gaza off the map.” Former soccer players have also expressed genocidal intent. For instance, Danny Neumann, a former soccer player and now sports commentator stated, “They must be exterminated, all of them must be killed,” and further called for the complete destruction of Gaza to create new settlements.

• Israeli soccer clubs have not only shown consistent and belligerent racism, but they also support the Israeli military and their genocidal assault. Israeli clubs from top to bottom leagues are providing various practical support (e.g., equipment) to the Israeli military, advertising it, posting photos of Israeli soldiers in Gaza with clubs’ scarfs against the background of destroyed homes, posting photos of war ships, tanks, war planes, firing helicopters, with a note “we will win”, etc. Israeli Premier League CEO also posted a photo of devastated Gaza from a media source that said: “Israel must fight on”.

• The IFA has repeatedly failed in taking meaningful and effective action against discrimination and racism, in the areas under its jurisdiction. The clearest example of this is Beitar Jerusalem FC for which the Economist reported: “Supporters of the football club proudly sing about how it is ‘the most racist team’ in Israel. They scream epithets, such as ‘terrorist’, at the [Palestinians] who play for opposing squads. Though [Palestinians] make up 21% of Israel’s population, Beitar Jerusalem has never itself fielded one, in keeping with fans’ claim to be ‘forever pure’”. In 2025, Amsterdam City Council voted Maccabi Tel Aviv, another racist Israeli team, “undesirable”, de facto preventing the club from playing in the city.

To date, Israel has killed an estimated 680,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023. This figure does not account for deaths or injuries the Israeli army or its settlers have inflicted on Palestinians in the West Bank.

In Gaza, Israel has killed at least 724 athletes, including 402 soccer players, of which 103 were children. For instance, Israel killed 10 teammates from the Al-Mohtarifin Football Academy in Gaza City.

Israel also killed former Palestine national team player Suleiman Al-Obaid, known as the “Palestinian Pelé”, while waiting for humanitarian aid. Ismail Abu Dan, another prominent Palestinian soccer player was killed while waiting in line for food. In many cases, such as that of Mohammed and Mahmoud Khalifa, football players were killed alongside their entire families when Israel bombed their homes. Israel has also destroyed 288 sports and scouting facilities in Palestine.

Israel’s ongoing genocide is a mass disabling event. It is incongruent for individuals like the Vice President of Canada Soccer Paul-Claude Bérubé,to claim to support disabled people, while staying silent while hundreds of thousands of individuals are disabled through targeted armed violence. Further, Israel’s mass disablement is not isolated to the last two years.It is an integral part of Israel's occupation and apartheid system. For instance, in 2018, the Palestinian Amputee Football Association was founded after Israel intentionally disabled thousands of young people in the Great March of Return protests. The "Israeli military instituted a shoot-to-maim policy, causing more than 6,000 injuries, mostly to the lower limbs."

Palestinian Football Association (PFA) personnel are working under impossible conditions. Israeli Foreign Minister Katz publicly threatened the President of the PFA with imprisonment for exercising rights under FIFA Statutes and requesting an item to be placed on agenda. General Secretary of the PFA and other administrators have been detained and questioned by the Israeli military when travelling with the team for international matches. The Israeli military fires gas bombs at the Headquarters of the PFA on a weekly basis for no reason.

FIFA and Canada Soccer are not only accountable to their own legal regulations, but to international law. In relation to entities such as FIFA, the International Court of Justice explicitly stated that international organizations are under a duty not to recognize as legal or render aid or assistance for the situation arising from the unlawful presence of Israel in the oPt

Contrary to the clear position of international legal institutions on parameters of international law, FIFA continues to render aid and assistance to the IFA, recognise its illegal settlement clubs by including them into the pyramid structure of global soccer together with Canadian clubs, leagues, and federation, thereby assisting in normalisation of life in illegal settlements. According to Human Rights Watch, FIFA contributes towards illegal occupation and colonisation of Palestine by bolstering illegal settlements and is “sponsoring games on a seized land.”

Therefore, we demand that Canada Soccer:

• Publicly demands and invests efforts to ensure that FIFA suspend the IFA, Israeli clubs, and those players that engaged in hate speech and/or are soldiers and reservists in the Israeli military.
• Refuses to host the 2026 World Cup in good faith while the IFA remains a Member of FIFA.
• Refuses to play any matches against the Israeli national team.
• Ends any and all financial support for the IFA. Further, if Canada Soccer has financially supported the IFA in any way (e.g., sponsorships), Canada Soccer must make reparations to the Palestinian communities affected by this sponsorship.