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The Palestinians' Unsporting and Illegal Soccer War Against Israel
(Washington Post) Eugene Kontorovich - Human Rights Watch published a report on Sunday denouncing Israeli soccer clubs in towns in the West Bank. A few weeks ago, a group of European Parliament members called on FIFA, the international soccer governing body, to expel the teams, or Israel itself, from world soccer. The legal arguments raised in these documents are entirely contrived. They contradict longstanding FIFA practice and create a double standard for Israel. There is simply no support in international law for prohibiting business in occupied territories, as British and French courts have recently affirmed. Morocco maintains a team, part of its national football federation, in occupied Western Sahara. British Gibraltar's soccer federation is a member of the international soccer system despite being entirely located on what Spain claims as its sovereign territory. The Taiwanese (Taipei) federation is recognized, despite China's claim to the island. The writer is a professor at Northwestern University School of Law.