ISRAEL'S women's team should be banned from taking part in the women's Euros 2025 qualifiers ahead of their match against Scotland, a Greens councillor has said.
Holly Bruce, a Scottish Greens representative for Langside in Glasgow, has put forward a motion to Glasgow City Council calling on the administration to take action ahead of the game – due to take place later this month.
The councillor says that since Russia was not permitted to participate in several major global tournaments following its invasion of Ukraine, Israel should face the same consequences for the "collective punishment" of Gaza.
Israel and Scotland's teams are set to meet on Friday, May 31, at Hampden Park.
In a motion due to be debated at Glasgow's City Chambers this Thursday, Bruce [below] referenced the administration's emergency motion calling for a ceasefire. That motion condemned both acts of terrorism committed by Hamas in Israel and the Israeli military's bombardment of Gaza.
READ MORE: Israel didn't win, but Eurovision can't carry on as usual – here's why
The new motion sets out to reaffirm the council's solidarity with "all victims, their families and communities of the ongoing siege of Gaza and related violence".
It goes on to express concern that hosting Israel at Hampden Park while conflict continues "would not align" with the Government and council's calls for a ceasefire.
"Council commends the work of the Gaza Genocide Emergency Committee on their Show Israeli Genocide the Red Card campaign which has highlighted the gross injustices faced by Palestinians in football and which is calling for sporting bodies to take action," it continues.
Bruce's motion then calls on council leader Susan Aitken (above) to write to Fifa and Uefa requesting for Israel to be suspended from the qualifiers.
"Council requests that the council leader also writes to the Scottish FA, Hampden Park and Greater Glasgow Police seeking assurance that Glaswegians who wish to protest on May 31 will be treated fairly and proportionally and that spectators and footballers wishing to show solidarity with Palestine on the May 31 are able to do so peacefully," it adds.
Glasgow City Council has been contacted for comment.
Naomi Junnor, a Jewish pro-Palestine campaigner based in Glasgow, recently told The National that there has been a lot of anger in recent years over how regularly Israel has been welcomed to Scotland for football.
"There will be protests about the women’s football championship that’s coming up and I believe Israel gets ridiculous protection in every sense," she said.
“There seems to be an impotence and an inadequacy in our political scenario to identify Israel as anything other than a beloved friend of our nation and it’s not."
READ MORE: Iolanda Portugal: Eurovision entrant's outfit has connections to Palestine
The meeting comes after Israel's inclusion in this week's Eurovision Grand Final sparked boycotts.
Israel's competitor Eden Golan performed her song Hurricane in the final, which was reworked from a previous track called October Rain. It was thought to reference the Hamas attacks on Israel that sparked the onslaught of Gaza, which has now seen around 35,000 people killed.
Golan faced loud jeers and boos from the audience, and people also shouting "Free Palestine".
She finished in fifth place after receiving an audience score of 323 points, including 12 points from the United Kingdom’s public vote.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here