UEFA bows to Israel pressure, allows games to be broadcast to settlements

UEFA (the Union of European Football Associations) has bowed to Israeli pressure and withdrawn its condition that its football games not be broadcast to illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem.

UEFA had previously told Israel’s Public Broadcasting Corporation – known as Kan – that it may only broadcast the Euro 2020 and 2022 World Cup qualifier games inside the Green Line and not to illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt). This condition was included in the contract due to be signed between UEFA and Kan, for which the latter bid $5.8 million.

However, yesterday UEFA withdrew this condition and stated that Kan would be allowed to broadcast the games as it saw fit, which will include to Israel’s illegal settlements. The only condition UEFA will now impose is that Kan must also broadcast the games with Arabic-language commentary, in addition to the Hebrew-language commentary it already intended.

Israel must also use the broadcast of Qatari company beIN, which owns the rights to air UEFA games in North Africa and the Middle East and therefore in the oPt, the Times of Israel (ToI) reported.

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UEFA’s withdrawal comes after Israel exerted pressure on the organisation to remove the condition from the contract, with senior officials from the Israel Football Association (IFA) contacting UEFA to “resolve” the issue, according to ToI. The IFA has reportedly been in contact with UEFA “from the moment the difficulty was brought to our attention” and said: “We thank UEFA heads for their help in finding a solution which once again prevents any attempt to tie soccer with politics”.

The IFA added that the agreement would allow broadcasts to “continue being conducted, now and in the future, according to the rules that were in place thus far,” referring to the fact that Kan has broadcast UEFA games to illegal Israeli settlements on previous occasions. It is unclear how long the contract will permit Kan to broadcast UEFA games in this way.

The presence of Israeli settlers living beyond the Green Line – the armistice line imposed in the wake of the 1948 war – is considered illegal under international law. Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states that “the Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies”. Since Israel has occupied the West Bank, as well as the Gaza Strip, Golan Heights and East Jerusalem since 1967, any Israeli settlements in these territories are deemed illegal.

Despite this, Israel has pursued a consistent policy of illegal settlement and considers these settlers Israeli citizens. According to Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem “there are an estimated 588,000 settlers in the West Bank”. B’Tselem adds that “the annual growth rate for the settler population (excluding East Jerusalem) in 2015 was more than two times higher than that of the overall population in Israel: 4.1 per cent and two per cent per cent, respectively.”

READ: Israel rights group chief slams occupation at UN