July 20 – An Israeli lawmaker close to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has sent an open letter to FIFA urging it to strip Qatar of 2022 World Cup hosting rights because of its alleged support for Hezbollah and Hamas, regarded by Israel and others as terrorist organisations.
According to Israel’s Maariv newspaper, Nava Boker is backing the Saudi-led trade and diplomatic boycott of Qatar and has called on FIFA to transfer the hosting of the tournament to another country “without terrorism and human suffering on its hands”.
“Qatar has also financed and is still financing the terrorist state of Iran… and is grossly violating the human rights of millions of undocumented migrant workers under its rule,” she was further quoted as saying.
Qatar vehemently denies any links with terrorism and are pressing ahead with preparations to welcome up to one million visitors in 2022 with fans likely to able to individually attend two or three games a day given the size of Gulf state.
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