(National Review) Tom Gross - FIFA - the supposedly nonpolitical organization that governs soccer - has condemned Israel for an air strike on an empty soccer field in Gaza that was used for training exercises by Islamic Jihad and the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. The field had also reportedly served as a missile launching pad. At the same time, FIFA refused to condemn a Palestinian rocket attack on a soccer field last week at the Karmiya kibbutz in southern Israel. Since Israel's withdrawal from Gaza last year, several members of the kibbutz, including a ten-month-old baby, have been wounded after their homes took direct hits from Kassam rockets. Following calls last December from German politicians that Iran should be banned from participating in the forthcoming World Cup (which starts in Germany on June 9, 2006) because of repeated Holocaust denial by the Iranian president, FIFA president Sepp Blatter said: "We're not going to enter into any political declarations....We are not in politics."
2006-04-12 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive