A right wing Jewish group has called for the Socceroos to boycott their Asian Cup match with Palestine.
The Sydney-based Australian Jewish Association has asked FFA to stop the Socceroos from taking on Palestine on Friday.
It claims that football is being politicised by the Asian Football Confederation and that the AFC is biased against Israel.
“Soccer is being blatantly politicised by the Asian Football Confederation as ‘Palestine’ is not a country recognised by the international community,” the AJA’s statement reads.
“The AFC, dominated by Arab interests, should not have admitted ‘Palestine’ as a member. In 1974 the AFC expelled Israel as a member. Its expulsion could rightly be characterised as antisemitic.
“The AFC has even attempted to erase Israel from its history books altogether. Israel participated in the Asian Cup (which is played every four years) in 1956, 1960 and 1964, actually winning the Asian Cup in 1964.
“Yet the AFC’s promotional video for the last Asian Cup (held in Australia in 2015) showcased all past winners but ignored Israel’s win in 1964. The admission of ‘Palestine’ as a participating country is the other side of the same antisemitic coin.
“‘Palestine’ is in part controlled by Hamas, a proscribed terrorist organisation and in part by the Palestinian Authority which incites and rewards the murder of Jews in Israel.
Read the article by John Davidson on FTBL.