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The Football Association of Ireland has given the green light to submit a official proposal to Uefa, demanding the exclusion of Israeli football from continental team and national competitions.

Basis of the Proposed Suspension

This motion, which was put forward by Irish side Bohemians, highlighted claimed violations by the Israel Football Association of a couple of important Uefa statutes.

• Failure to apply and uphold an proper anti-racism policy.
• Organisation of clubs in occupied Palestinian territories lacking the approval of the Palestinian Football Association.

Ballot Results and Next Steps

According to an announcement from the FAI, the proposal was backed by 74 votes, with 7 opposed and two not voting.

They plans to officially present this request to the Uefa executive committee, asking for the prompt ban of the IFA from Uefa competitions.

In an extraordinary general meeting of the Football Association of Ireland, an standard motion was posed to delegates. It passed by a large margin.

Earlier Uefa Considerations

The European body had previously put on hold intentions to ban Israel at the close of last month, following the announcement of a US peace proposal for the area.

Although Uefa never publicly stated contemplating an special session on the issue, plans were understood to be quite advanced.

Global Context

This Irish move follows comparable calls in September from the leaders of both Turkey and Norway's governing bodies for Israel's suspension from international competition.

These appeals were made after UN specialists asked world and European football bodies to suspend the Israeli FA, referencing a UN investigation that claimed Israel of committing genocide during the Gaza conflict.

Israel has denied these claims and labeled the report as outrageous.

Possible Ramifications

Should European football's authority decide to suspend the IFA, it would likely strain relations with the United States government – joint hosts for the upcoming World Cup – which strongly opposes such an measure.

Although Uefa has the power to suspend Israeli teams from European competitions, it may not be able to stop them from competing in World Cup qualifiers, which falls under world football's governing body.