“Let’s make sport apartheid and genocide free. One ball, one kick at the time,” Francesca Albanese - UN rapporteur calls on European football body to expel Israel to make sport ‘genocide free’

Middle East Monitor

@MiddleEastMnt

The UN special rapporteur for human rights in the Palestinian territories called on the European football governing body (UEFA) on Sunday to expel Israel from competitions over its war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip, Anadolu reports. 

 “Let’s make sport apartheid and genocide free. One ball, one kick at the time,” Francesca Albanese said on her X account. 

Albanese’s call came following UEFA’s farewell to a former Palestinian player, Suleiman al-Obeid, whom it called the “Palestinian Pelé.” 

Obaid was killed on Wednesday, when the Israeli army opened fire on civilians waiting for aid delivery near a distribution point in the southern Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Football Association. 

“Time to expel its killers from competitions, @UEFA,” the UN rapporteur said. 

 Obaid, 41, born in Gaza and a father of five, is seen as one of the brightest stars in Palestinian football history. He played 24 official matches for the national team and scored two goals. 

More than 800 athletes have been killed in Gaza since the start of Israel’s offensive on Oct. 7, 2023, as the sports community continues to suffer under bombardment, famine, and the collapse of infrastructure, according to Palestinian officials. 

Israel has been facing mounting outrage over its deadly war on Gaza, where more than 61,400 people have been killed since October 2023. The military campaign has devastated the enclave and brought it to the verge of famine.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250810-un-rapporteur-calls-on-european-football-body-to-expel-israel-to-make-sport-genocide-free/

 AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]

"Israel’s plan for complete military takeover of Gaza must be immediately halted"- United Nations Human Rights Chief Volker Türk At Geneva... & [ALL] the hostages and all those arbitrarily detained must be immediately and unconditionally released.

© OMAR AL-QATTAA / AFP

https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/08/turk-israels-plan-complete-military-takeover-gaza-must-be-immediately-halted

The Israeli Government’s plan for a complete military takeover of the occupied Gaza strip must be immediately halted. It runs contrary to the ruling of the International Court of Justice that Israel must bring its occupation to an end as soon as possible, to the realisation of the agreed two-State solution and to the right of Palestinians to self-determination.

On all evidence to date, this further escalation will result in more massive forced displacement, more killing, more unbearable suffering, senseless destruction and atrocity crimes.

The war in Gaza must end now. And Israelis and Palestinians must be allowed to live side by side in peace.

Instead of intensifying this war, the Israeli Government should put all its efforts into saving the lives of Gaza’s civilians by allowing the full, unfettered flow of humanitarian aid. The hostages must be immediately and unconditionally released by Palestinian armed groups. Palestinians arbitrarily detained by Israel must also be immediately and unconditionally released.

For more information and media requests, please contact:

Jeremy Laurence: +41 22 917 9383 / jeremy.laurence@un.org
Thameen Al-Kheetan: +41 22 917 4232 / thameen.alkheetan@un.org

Tag and share

Twitter @UNHumanRights
Facebook unitednationshumanrights
Instagram @unitednationshumanrights

Situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Israel and Lebanon

See all Media coverage of the situation

[ALL] the hostages and all those arbitrarily detained must be immediately and unconditionally released.  https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/08/turk-calls-end-starvation-civilians-and-humiliation-hostages-gaza

Nagasaki’s twin bells ring in unison for first time in 80 years to mark atomic bombing. Mayor of Japanese city used the anniversary of US bombing to urge the world to stop armed conflicts, warning nuclear war was ‘looming’ over everyone

Doves are leased over the peace statue in Nagasaki, during a ceremony to mark the 80th anniversary of the US atomic bombing. Photograph: Kotaro Ueda/AP

Sat 9 Aug 2025

Twin cathedral bells rang in unison in Nagasaki for the first time in 80 years on Saturday, commemorating the moment the city was destroyed by an American atomic bomb.

The two bells rang out at Immaculate Conception cathedral, also called the Urakami cathedral, at 11.02am, the moment the bomb was dropped on 9 August 1945, three days after a nuclear attack on Hiroshima.

The imposing redbrick building, with its twin bell towers atop a hill, was rebuilt in 1959 after it was almost completely destroyed in the monstrous explosion just a few hundred metres away. Only one of its two bells was recovered from the rubble, leaving the northern tower silent. With funds from US churchgoers, a new bell was constructed and restored to the tower.

After heavy downpours on Saturday morning, the rain stopped shortly before a moment of silence and ceremony in which Nagasaki mayor Shiro Suzuki urged the world to “stop armed conflicts immediately”

“Eighty years have passed, and who could have imagined that the world would become like this?” he said. “A crisis that could threaten the survival of humanity, such as a nuclear war, is looming over each and every one of us living on this planet.”

About 74,000 people were killed in the south-western port city, on top of the 140,000 killed in Hiroshima.

Days later, on 15 August 1945, Japan surrendered, marking the end of the second world war.

Historians have debated whether the bombings ultimately saved lives by bringing an end to the conflict and averting a ground invasion. But those calculations meant little to survivors, known as hibakusha, many of whom battled decades of physical and psychological trauma, as well as stigma.... READ MORE https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/09/nagasaki-japan-atomic-bomb-twin-bells-urakami-cathedral

 AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]

Hiroshima’s fading legacy: the race to secure survivors’ memories amid a new era of nuclear brinkmanship

At 8:15am on 6 August, the Enola Gay, a US B-29 bomber, dropped a nuclear bomb on the city. “Little Boy” detonated about 600 metres from the ground, with a force equivalent to 15,000 tonnes of TNT. Between 60,000 and 80,000 people were killed instantly, with the death toll rising to 140,000 by the end of the year as victims succumbed to burns and illnesses caused by acute exposure to radiation.

Three days later, the Americans dropped a plutonium bomb on Nagasaki, killing 74,000. And on 15 August, a demoralised Japan surrendered, bringing an end to the second world war... READ MORE https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/05/hiroshima-atomic-bomb-80-year-anniversary-survivors