The Game Over Israel organization, with support from Athletes 4 Peace, a collective of professional athletes, issued a letter on Tuesday urging the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) to suspend Israel over its human rights violations against Palestinians. The letter was signed by more than 70 prominent sports figures, including footballers, cricketers, and boxers.

The letter highlights the damage to sport in Gaza resulting from Israel’s military offensive, which began in October 2023 in response to the October 7 Hamas attacks. The years-long offensive has reportedly led to the death of at least 421 Palestinian footballers. It also notes that in August 2025, Suleiman Al-Obeid, known as “Palestinian Pele,” had been killed in an Israeli attack while seeking humanitarian aid in Gaza.

The letter states that “this is not about politics or taking sides. It’s about justice, humanity and the values sport claims to stand for and not allowing nations to whitewash their illegal and inhuman actions through sport” and “sport is not neutral in the face of injustice. To remain silent is to accept that the lives of some are worth less than others. We believe in one standard for all nations and all people, justice without double standards.” The letter adds that AI-Obeid’s death is a reminder of “why the world, and in particular sporting bodies, must act.”

This is not the first appeal to UEFA. In September, a United Nations commission published a report concluding that the Israeli authorities have committed genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and that the “State of Israel bears responsibility for the failure to prevent genocide, the commission of genocide and the failure to punish genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.”

Following that report, UN experts called on UEFA to bar Israel from its competitions as “a necessary response to address the ongoing genocide in the occupied Palestinian territory.” Citing international human rights law, the experts said that international sports associations such as UEFA are bound by obligations “not to provide aid or assistance that would help maintain the situation created by Israel’s illegal presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”