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{"id":25686,"date":"2026-07-11T19:47:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T19:47:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/norways-other-world-cup-campaign-getting-israel-kicked-out-of-soccer\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T19:47:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T19:47:14","slug":"norways-other-world-cup-campaign-getting-israel-kicked-out-of-soccer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/norways-other-world-cup-campaign-getting-israel-kicked-out-of-soccer\/","title":{"rendered":"Norway&#8217;s other World Cup campaign: Getting Israel kicked out of soccer"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Norway stands out among the historic European powers that dominate what remains of the World Cup. It has the skimpiest soccer heritage of the bunch \u2014 with a 28-year break since its last visit to the tournament \u2014 and the strongest political agenda: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/sports\/soccer\/norwegian-fa-president-says-israel-should-be-suspended-international-competition-2025-09-29\/\" target=\"_blank\">a continued fight to boot Israel from international soccer<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Norway\u2019s trip to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6693637\/2025\/10\/10\/how-norway-vs-israel-became-footballs-most-controversial-fixture\/\" target=\"_blank\">this World Cup ran through Israel<\/a>, which has competed for one of Europe\u2019s tournament slots since 1994, when boycotts from Arab and Muslim countries made it impossible for the Middle Eastern country to continue competing in the Asian Football Confederation.<\/p>\n<p>When the two countries faced off in Oslo last October in a qualifying match, the Norwegian Football Federation announced that all proceeds would be donated to relief aid in Gaza. Palestinian flags, keffiyehs paired with viking hats and a massive &#8220;Let Children Live&#8221; banner swept the stands. Fans <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ynetnews.com\/sport\/article\/bj11ohxuplx\" target=\"_blank\">booed the playing of Israel\u2019s national anthem<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>But the Norwegian federation\u2019s primary instrument is not advocacy from its team or fan base, but institutional pressure through federation standing and procedural respectability \u2014 an instinct reflecting the nation\u2019s overall style and befitting its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.norway.no\/en\/missions\/un\/norway-and-the-un\/norways-rich-history-at-the-un\/\" target=\"_blank\">disproportionately large role at the United Nations<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Norway has been in the middle of Middle Eastern politics for a while. In 1978, the Camp David Accords set Israel on course to surrender the Sinai Peninsula and its oil fields, just before the Iranian Revolution upended regional energy politics. The United States pressed Norway to supply oil to Israel, which it did only after clearing the idea with Palestine Liberation Organization Chair Yasser Arafat, who saw the value of a Scandinavian back channel to Israeli leaders.<\/p>\n<p>Norway\u2019s tact turned itself into a distinctive intermediary: a small, energy-rich state with few Middle East ambitions of its own, clout in Washington, trust among Israelis and rapport with Palestinians. In the 1990s, the country hosted the negotiations that generated the Oslo Accords, the most significant diplomatic breakthrough toward a lasting peace. As talks failed and Israel\u2019s occupation of Gaza and the West Bank deepened over the early 2000s, Norway pulled back from Israel.<\/p>\n<p>Now Norway has brought that perspective to soccer\u2019s governing bodies, arguing that Russia\u2019s exclusion from the sport after its invasion of Ukraine presents a double standard that should be applied equally to Israel. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/football\/articles\/cyx65r72d50o\" target=\"_blank\">latest push for Israel\u2019s suspension from FIFA<\/a> began in 2024 by the Palestinian Football Association. It is backed by Arab and Asian football bodies, which cite atrocities in Gaza, discrimination against Arab athletes and Israel\u2019s inclusion of football clubs that operate in illegal West Bank settlements.<\/p>\n<p>Norwegian support advances the cause into the soccer\u2019s mainstream, lending a weight and legitimacy absent among other European countries whose federations have taken a hard line against Israeli involvement. T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s position can be dismissed as predictably partisan on religious grounds, while Ireland \u2014 which has formally introduced a resolution to expel Israel and has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fai.ie\/latest\/fai-statement-3\/\" target=\"_blank\">considered boycotting matches against the country<\/a> \u2014 is absent from this World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>The driver of Norway\u2019s political agenda is former national team star Lise Klaveness, a lawyer who serves on the executive committee of European confederation UEFA. She has been a voice for Nordic progressive politics within international soccer: In early 2022, <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/sports-soccer-international-soccer-world-cup-middle-east-47fd3fc36aabf1ff3e3fa976b97f3d93\" target=\"_blank\">Klaveness spoke to FIFA Congress<\/a> about human rights, LGBTQ+ safety and transparency concerns in Qatar.<\/p>\n<p>Players have been more circumspect than their leadership, but far from silent. Captain Martin \u00d8degaard said in early 2025 that the situation in Gaza \u2014 which that fall was subject to a peace deal negotiated in part by the United States \u2014 was \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thejc.com\/news\/israel\/israeli-football-captain-hits-back-at-norwegian-players-who-hint-israel-should-be-banned-from-uefa-nuwumohv\" target=\"_blank\">a background you can\u2019t ignore<\/a>\u201d when playing Israel. The team\u2019s leading goal-scorer, striker Erling Haaland, has engaged more obliquely with the subject but has not ignored it: A 2023 social media post mourned innocent children dying as attacks escalated on Gaza, and clips circulated of a 2025 video call Haaland held with a freed Israeli hostage.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Norway stands out among the historic European powers that dominate what remains of the World Cup. It has the skimpiest soccer heritage of the bunch \u2014 with a 28-year break since its last visit to the tournament \u2014 and the strongest political agenda: a continued fight to boot Israel from international soccer. Norway\u2019s trip to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25686\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}