Could Fifa kick Israel out of world football?

ISRAEL FA chairman Ofer Eini has said there is a genuine danger a Palestinian campaign to suspend Israel from international football could come to fruition.

A Fifa Council meeting yesterday was due to hear a report on the freedom of movement allowed to Palestinian footballers and the involvement of settlement-based teams in Israeli leagues.

The report says there has been commendable progress on the first issue — freedom of movement — but it cites six Israeli league teams from the West Bank — Maaleh Adumim, Ariel, Kiryat Arba, Jordan Valley, Givat Zeev and Oranit — as a sticking point.

There were fears Palestinian FA chairman Jibril Rajoub would use the arguments set out at yesterday’s meeting to bring a motion before the Fifa Congress in Bahrain next May calling on Israel to withdraw the six teams from its leagues or face suspension.

Mr Eini said: “This time there is a genuine concern that we will be suspended from all international competition.”

The report was due to be presented by former South African politician Tokyo Sexwale, who heads the Fifa Monitoring Committee Israel-Palestine.

The committee was set up by the Fifa Congress in 2015 following a compromise reached with the Palestinian FA, which withdrew a motion to suspend Israel.

Mr Sexwale has upset Palestinians, however, by calling the West Bank “disputed territory” rather than “occupied territory”.

The Fifa Congress had originally been scheduled for Kuala Lumpur but was switched to Bahrain after the Malaysian authorities said they would refuse to fly Israeli flags or grant visas to Israeli delegates.

Mr Rajoub said: “The time is overdue for Fifa to make a decision based on their own statutes and code of ethics, practice and values.”

Senior Uefa officials have assured Israel the Palestinians have no chance of finding the 75 per cent majority of Fifa’s 209 members required to suspend Israel.