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Petition to call off Maccabi Tel Aviv match delivered to FA as milestone reached

The petition from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) called on people to sign an open letter to FA chair Debbie Hewitt, Aston Villa chair Nassef Sawiris and UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin demanding the match on Thursday be cancelled.

The open letter also called for an end to Israel's membership of international footballing bodies.

It has now gathered more than 25,000 signatures and has been delivered in-person to the English FA at Wembley Stadium.

READ MORE: Rival protests over Maccabi Tel Aviv match planned close to Aston Villa

If the FA and UEFA do not work together to cancel the match, campaigners say Aston Villa must refuse to play, the letter says.

The match has come in for major scrutiny after Maccabi fans were banned from attending the match in Birmingham, with police deeming the game "high-risk".

The UK Government attempted to overturn the ban but then Maccabi Tel Aviv said they will not sell tickets to fans for the match.

The letter says Israel cannot be allowed to "cynically present itself as a normal country".

PSC director Ben Jamal laid out earlier this week how there are at least six clubs based in settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories currently playing in Israeli leagues, in violation of both international law and FIFA’s own statutes.

Article 64.2 of FIFA’s statutes states: “Member associations and their clubs may not play on the territory of another member association without the latter’s approval.”

Scottish Greens MSP Patrick Harvie said there can be "no justification" for the Maccabi match on Thursday taking place as he called for "bold action" from football associations to pressure UEFA.

Campaigners call for Israel to be banned from world and European football (Image: PSC)

“There is no justification for normalising participation or collaboration with genocidal regimes like Israel, even when it comes to things like the Europa League or international football.

“UEFA rightly banned Russia following their illegal invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and we need them to do the same with Israel, until the occupation of Palestine is brought to an end and a peaceful future is secured.

“We need bold action from our football associations and clubs to demand action from UEFA. I hope that the SFA will back the calls to ban Israel from international competitions and make it clear that any nation involved in war crimes should face cultural sanctions until justice is served.”

The letter highlights how Maccabi fans have a "long history of violence" which was exemplified last year in Amsterdam when the club played Ajax. This incident ultimately led local authorities to conclude it would not be safe to host Maccabi fans in Birmingham.

A photographer who captured violent scenes in the Dutch capital that night told The National she could understand why a ban had been put in place, adding that she disagreed with Keir Starmer’s assessment that this was “wrong”.

UN experts called on FIFA and UEFA in September to suspend Israel as a country team from international football, while Amnesty International has written to FIFA and UEFA calling on them to suspend the Israeli Football Association (IFA) from their tournaments until it excludes clubs based in illegal settlements from continuing to play in Israel’s football leagues.

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