Pro-Palestinian protesters interrupt FIFA President's speech
Pro-Palestinian protesters briefly interrupted the FIFA congress in Zurich on Friday, with the governing-body set to vote later on whether to expel Israel from world soccer. The two female protesters interrupted FIFA President Sepp Blatter’s opening address, waving red cards at FIFA representatives and chanting “Israel out!” before being escorted out of the hall by security guards. Palestine, which has been a FIFA member since 1998, wants the governing body to expel Israel over its restrictions on the movement of Palestinian players. It also opposes the participation in the Israeli championships of five clubs located in Jewish settlements in the West Bank. If the motion passes at the FIFA congress, it would effectively leave Israel unable to participate in international soccer tournaments. For the motion to pass, the Palestinian delegation must win over three-quarters of the votes of the 209 soccer federations of FIFA. However, today it became known that the Palestinian side had withdrawn the motion, at the same time demanding to annul the anti-Palestinian law adopted by the Israeli Football Federation.
