John,

Israel has launched its ground invasion of Gaza City with “unprecedented force” as tens of thousands of Palestinians flee their shelters with nowhere to go. 

And while Israel commits these mass atrocities, its football team is scheduled to play in the World Cup qualifiers against Norway and Italy in a few days.

But football officials have just signaled that UEFA could vote on Israel’s suspension as early as next week. It’s still not confirmed yet, and the US is lobbying hard to block the vote from happening.

Which means we only have 2-3 days to counter the US and Israel’s genocidal lobby machine and demand European football federations force UEFA to bring this to a vote – which they can do if one fifth of UEFA countries demand it. 

Tell Ireland, Spain, Turkey, Iceland and other UEFA members: force a vote, and suspend Israel from UEFA!  

We’ve just dug into UEFA statutes and we discovered that even if UEFA officials cave to US pressure, UEFA members can still force a vote by demanding an extraordinary meeting. But we need at least one fifth of UEFA members to do so, which means about a dozen countries. 

We know this works. The same day Russia invaded Ukraine, UEFA members called for an extraordinary meeting, and within 3 days they voted to suspend Russia. 

The Spanish Prime Minister announced that Spain will withdraw from the World Cup if Israel is allowed to participate, and UN experts also just announced that FIFA, UEFA and all sporting bodies must suspend Israel. 

So now UEFA officials are under enormous pressure, and many of them are in favor of a suspension. But we’re up against the most powerful forces in the world. Our people-power is needed now more than ever. 

Tell Ireland, Spain, Turkey, Iceland and other UEFA members: force a vote, and suspend Israel from UEFA!