An open letter to FIFA

Gianni Infantino, President of FIFA

Dear Mr. Infantino,

Last week I was one of thousands who attended the funeral in Jerusalem of Hersh Goldberg Polin. Hersh was 23 years-old, and kidnapped from a music festival by Hamas after they had blown his arm off with a grenade. He was kept in a tunnel in Gaza for 11 months and then murdered along with five others.

Hersh was an avid football fan, a supporter of Hapoel Jerusalem, and the club’s red-and-black scarves and banners were much in evidence at the funeral. His friends gave a eulogy in which they spoke of going to matches with Hersh, in Israel and abroad. Hersh saw football the way FIFA claims to see it: as a way of bringing people together and inspiring community. Hapoel Jerusalem have announced that their team will wear new shirts this season, emblazoned with Hersh’s likeness and a quote from his father’s eulogy, calling on Hersh’s memory to inspire a revolution of peace and coexistence.

Also last week I read that the FIFA Council is currently reviewing the Palestine Football Association’s proposal that my country, Israel, be suspended from all FIFA competitions. My question to you is: What exactly renders a country’s national football team ineligible for participation in FIFA competitions? Qatar is not just a member in good standing but was given the ultimate honor of hosting the last FIFA World Cup. Yet Qatar is a longtime funder and supporter of Hamas, the terrorist organization which murdered, tortured and raped hundreds of Israelis on October 7 2023, and is still holding over 100 Israelis hostages – having summarily executed six of them last week. How does Qatar remain free of any censure if FIFA wants to take any kind or moral high ground? Would a country hosting ISIS leaders in luxury hotels be awarded a prestigious international tournament?

Turkey has also hosted Hamas and vocally supported them after their atrocities. Iran is the head of the entire Middle East terror network comprising Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah and others; all of which have the explicitly genocidal aim of murdering Jews and Israelis. Has there even been a discussion about these countries at FIFA headquarters since October 7?

And as an Israeli football fan I do not recall FIFA making any kind of statement after October 7 itself. Nor after the slaughter of 12 Israeli Druze (mostly children) playing football last month, by a Hezbollah rocket.

We Israelis often feel that there is a double standard applied to our country. (The old Jewish aphorism – “Just because I’m paranoid, doesn’t mean they’re not out to get me” – has been proven all too true over the centuries.) You may be aware that the United Nations has a long and infamous record of singling Israel for censure while ignoring or downplaying the objectively worse human rights records of other states. You will have heard, I’m sure, the accusations of “genocide” thrown at Israel even while it has done more to prevent civilian casualties than any modern army fighting in an urban area.

Football has been one of my great loves since I was a child. As the only truly global sport, with the ability to inspire and influence billions of people, its governing institutions have great power. I ask that you refrain from using this power to further the international campaign to demonize and delegitimize the world’s only Jewish state.