FIFA will not take any immediate measure to sanction Israel, as it became clear with FIFA president Gianni Infantino's words on Thursday, after a council meeting held in Zurich. "FIFA cannot solve geopolitical problems, but it can and must promote football around the world by harnessing its unifying, educational, cultural and humanitarian values."
The council did not make any decision about whether to exclude Israel, after growing pressure from other international football bodies, and even United Nations experts, who asked FIFA and UEFA to suspend Israel, thus forbidding their participation on competitions like World Cup next summer.
"There is a legal and moral imperative to take every measure possible to end the genocide in Gaza now", said a group of UN experts in a letter last week. Infantino, in his opening remarks for Thursday's meeting, didn't directly reference the war in Gaza, simply sending his thoughts to "the many conflicts that exist around the world today".
Earlier, on Wednesday, FIFA vide-president Victor Montagliani said that the decision to suspend Israel should fall on UEFA, the European governing body, so "they have to deal with that".