Once again, football stands at the crossroads of sport and politics. On Tuesday, a coalition of advocacy organisations and fan groups launched the #GameOverIsrael campaign, calling on European football federations to boycott Israel, using a billboard in New York's Times Square as a launchpad.
The billboard's message, "Israel is committing genocide," is a symbolic prelude to a campaign that will be in full flow across Europe from Wednesday.
The initiative is led by a political strategist and human rights activist who is the former advisor to the Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair. Ashish Prashar is one of the main driving forces behind the campaign, which also has the support of prominent public figures such as Game of Thrones actor Liam Cunningham and former England football player and BBC Match of the Day host Gary Lineker.
The campaign calls on football federations in Belgium, England, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Scotland and Spain to boycott Israel’s national team, its club sides, and Israeli players in European competitions.
Organisers argue that football cannot remain insulated from the situation in Palestine, pointing to the destruction of sporting facilities and the deaths of athletes. They note that sporting bodies acted swiftly in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and contend that a consistent standard should be applied.
The campaign draws comparisons with the historic exclusion of Apartheid South Africa from international competition, framing sporting boycotts as part of a broader tradition of non-violent pressure.
Here, Prashar outlines the campaign’s goals, its methods and the questions it raises for football federations across Europe.
Tell me about this campaign, how it started, and what is it you're looking to achieve?
For years, there has been a campaign to have Fifa remove Israel from football for human rights violations, occupation, and Apartheid in the West Bank and Gaza. This campaign has been around for 10 years, but Fifa has ignored it. The situation has accelerated during the current conflict. We launched this campaign to find a tangible way for football fans and people who care about human rights to have Israel removed from football.
There's precedent for this - after Russia invaded Ukraine, European football federations led by Sweden and Poland boycotted Russia and Russian club teams, forcing Uefa and Fifa to act. We're targeting European football federations with direct action, protests, and political pressure to force them to boycott Israel.
We have protest plans, direct action planned, and people writing letters to senior politicians and ambassadors. This follows the UN's latest report confirming it's a genocide, which means we must isolate the entity committing that genocide.
You said this campaign started 10 years ago?
The Red Card campaign has been going for 10 years. This specific campaign started in the last few weeks, though we've been working on it for a couple of months. The Red Card campaign has done a great job highlighting Israel's atrocities, but we're going a step further. We know Fifa president [Gianni] Infantino will not ban Israel – he doesn't even want Russia to remain out of the World Cup.
We want to target federations in our own countries who have already shown they can take action. Most people, including footballers, don't know that their federations have the power to boycott nations and players. When the European public realises this, I believe they'll act en masse.
Can you break down the campaign — what the protests involve, and how long it is expected to run?
On day one, we launched a massive billboard in Times Square, New York, calling on football federations around the world to boycott Israel. We are hyper-focused on Europe because they can actually make a change. After that, we'll run a media campaign in each country naming the football federation executives and presidents, explaining that they have the executive power to make this decision without needing a vote or commission.
On Wednesday, there will be collective action across Europe from fans, unions, and anti-fascist movements targeting football federation offices and their presidents and CEOs. After the first wave, we expect more direct action, similar to college students sitting in at universities in America or activists locking Egyptian embassies. Fans are already organising themselves to take action.
So is the aim simply to have Israel and its players excluded from international football?
Straight up, it's a boycott of Israel, their club teams, and banning their players until justice and accountability is delivered for Palestinians. The UN has now officially confirmed it's a genocide. In any other setting, no individual would be allowed to participate in normal activities if they've participated in genocide. There's no end date to that exclusion until justice and accountability is delivered.
And why did you choose football specifically as the platform for this campaign?
Football is particularly important not only because it’s a global game but because it’s a domino – after football boycotted Russia, the Olympics followed, then cultural institutions. Football is universal; it sets off a cultural cascade, and that’s exactly why so much is invested in staying inside the game. Israel invests heavily in football precisely because they understand its cultural significance – and they know what it could mean if they were excluded.
You mentioned that the timing of individual protests may vary, but is the aim to stage a coordinated effort across the countries?
Yes, fans in those countries have decided the time, location, and approach with local activists. The protests won't all happen simultaneously. We're excited to see people pressure decision-makers, but we have no control over exactly how they'll protest. The demonstrations will range from building occupations to lock-ins and other tactics we've seen in recent protests. Eight countries are protesting on Wednesday, with one more on Thursday. We expect the momentum to continue into the weekend when football fans are mobilised for matches.
How long will these protests continue?
It's all about achieving the goal. Our goal is to get Israel out of football before the next international matches and before European competitions really get going. We want football federations’ executives to feel so uncomfortable that they boycott Israel and, together as a group, force Uefa’s hand. We'll keep going as long as necessary. Just revealing to European fans that this action is possible and powerful. Fans are already talking to each other about this and will continue until they see Israel banned from football.
The message is the most important thing: we are demanding our football federations boycott Israel, boycott their club teams, and ban Israeli players. How they choose to convey that message, whether at a derby game, national stadium, in front of the federation, or at the federation head's home, is up to them. We believe they'll find appropriate ways to pressure those individuals.
Who is part of this campaign right now?
It's a combination of former political figures like Richard Falk, president of the Gaza Tribunal, international law expert and former UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian Territories, and UN human rights figures, unions, football fan groups, ultras, and smaller fan clubs. We expect more to join as the message spreads.
Fans already organise weekly for matches and can turn those events into targeted demonstrations. We have football fan groups from PSG to Shamrock Rovers in Ireland to people in Livorno in Italy. We also have Palestinian groups and anti-fascist activists in those countries. We do have former footballers involved, but we're not relying on them as much because this is about the people. The public are the ones who go to the stands, attend games, and pay players' salaries. We also have artists and musicians like Bob Vylan and actors like Liam Cunningham speaking out.
Beyond the protests, are there other actions or initiatives we should expect from the campaign?
There is diplomatic outreach from senior diplomats, former and present, to their governments demanding their federations institute sports boycotts as well.
So, Game Over Israel is targeting the presidents of these federations to apply enough pressure in order to boycott Israel.
What about clubs playing in European competitions?
No, we're focusing on the federations because clubs would defer to them anyway. We're keeping the message strictly on the federations to avoid giving them any excuse to say it's Uefa or Fifa's decision. We're educating the public about how federation presidents acted during the Russia-Ukraine situation to show they have this power.
How do you respond to those who argue that individual Israeli footballers may have no involvement in the conflict, may even oppose it, yet could see their careers disrupted or curtailed by the boycotts being demanded?
Don't commit a genocide. There's precedent for this - after World War II, governing bodies didn't let West Germany back into football if they included Nazi soldiers. Everyone serves in the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) to some degree, with only a small percentage who haven't. Until justice and accountability is delivered for Palestinians, there should be no normalisation. The entire society must be held accountable for its actions. We didn't ask these questions about Apartheid South Africa, why are we asking them about Israel?
After the backlash in Italy during their World Cup qualifier against Israel, is there a risk federations won’t act for fear of sanctions or missing major tournaments?
That's why we're doing it all together. We want federations to call each other and coordinate. We're organising simultaneous action in several nations to provide cover for countries like Italy and Norway, who have to play against Israel. We want countries like France, Spain, Belgium, and Ireland, who aren't directly impacted by qualifiers, to support their European colleagues. Fifa and Uefa aren't going to throw out three or four of the world's top nations from the World Cup to protect Israel. With all the money involved in the World Cup and sponsorships, they won't punish countries like Spain or France if they act collectively.
Who started this campaign?
My partner and I worked with a small team, mostly from political backgrounds, advisors formerly from the UN and other institutions. We brought our skills together as campaigners, organisers, and former officials to design this. We researched whether this approach could work, using historical precedent. It worked with Apartheid South Africa and will work again here. The difference is we can't wait years for Fifa to act – Gaza is being wiped out now, so we're going directly to federations ... The power is with the people.
And what about you?
I've worked in politics for 17-18 years in the UK and US for Democrats, Labour, and Conservatives. I've been press secretary to mayors. My work with Palestine was deeply connected to when Tony Blair was Middle East peace envoy. I worked for his envoys' team in the early 2010s and resigned publicly.
When you experience the situation firsthand in a role where you're supposed to be arbitrating peace and realise your own institution doesn't care about one side, you have to make a choice. Since October 7, like many people, I stepped out of my role and decided with my partner to dedicate my life to Palestinian-related work, holding people accountable through trials, working on legal actions against companies like Airbnb with properties in occupied territories, and running campaigns to defund institutions supporting Israel.
