May 16 – AFC president Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa has given his unequivocal backing to the Palestine FA’s proposal for FIFA to take action against the Israeli FA in line with both FIFA’s and the AFC’s statutory objectives.
Prior to his address Congress delegates were shown a film provided by the Palestine FA showing the extent of the atrocities in Gaza. Although the AFC Congress was live-streamed the pictures and audio were only available to federation delegates at the Congress.
“We are only as strong as our members,” said Salman. “When one suffers we all suffer. We stand together with the Palestine FA, and we join them in seeking effective football-related solutions to the grievances raised by the Palestine FA in their proposal.”
The PFA is calling on FIFA’s membership to use its rules to sanction Israel for what it says are the ongoing violations of FIFA’s statutes, and the horrendous loss of innocent lives in the ongoing war on Gaza.
Prior to Thursday’s Congress, the AFC executive committee was unanimous in its backing of Palestine’s resolution.
“We, as a football community and as a governing body of the most popular sport in the world, have a statutory commitment to uphold the FIFA and AFC objectives and take appropriate steps to prevent infringements of FIFA and AFC statutes and regulations. It is our duty to support the Palestine FA for a swift and effective resolution in line with the rules, regulations and statutes of the AFC and FIFA,” said Salman.
“Our commitment to stand in solidarity and unity with the PFA is resolute. So many innocent lives have been lost because of this ongoing human tragedy in Palestine that has claimed the lives of more than 45,000 people… there is potential for us to play a dynamic role in standing up for human rights, including within our own sphere of operations,” he continued.
While the support for Palestine was a key focus of Shaikh Salman’s message to his members, so was an emphasis on what has been an outstanding year for the Asian confederation with the delivery of 11 regional championships crowned by the most successful ever Asian Cup in Qatar earlier this year.
“Never in the history of the Asian game has our future looked brighter,” he said.
Friday’s focus will see an attempt to share some of that brighter future with Palestine and the support of FIFA’s membership.
Salman, in his final remarks to close the Congress, said he expected their support for the PFA at the FIFA Congress.
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