(Paris) The international ice hockey federation (IIHF) announced Thursday the exclusion of Israel from the World Championships and all other competitions it organizes, to ensure “the safety of all participants”, including Israelis.
“After carefully reviewing the situation, the IIHF Council has decided that, given the concerns raised around the safety of all participants in the Championships, Israel will no longer take part in IIHF competitions at this time,” wrote the federation in a press release on Wednesday.
The Israel team was scheduled to participate in the Division II-A World Cup scheduled for April in Serbia.
Thursday evening the Israeli Olympic Committee informed in a press release that it would “file a complaint with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), against the International Ice Hockey Federation (FIH)”.
“The discriminatory decision of the FIH to exclude Israel is a very serious and unprecedented measure which does not meet any international sporting standards and is in total contradiction with the Olympic values,” the press release further reads.
The IIHF Council “in accordance with the IIHF’s obligation to protect all competitors and its obligation to put in place adequate safety and health measures to achieve this […] has decided to suspend participation of the Israel national team at the IIHF Championships until the safety and well-being of all participants (including Israelis) can be ensured,” the federation further writes.
This decision was taken after discussions with the participating countries and the host country, the IIHF further specifies.
Since the unprecedented attack committed on its territory by Hamas on October 7 and the start of the conflict between it and the Palestinian Islamist movement in Gaza, Israel has seen several of its teams – national or club – forced to evolve. at home” outside their country.
For example, Macabi Haifa had to host Monaco in the basketball Euroleague on January 2 in Belgrade, in football the same club played against Rennes in the Europa League at the end of November “at home” in Budapest, and the national football team played a Euro-2024 qualifying match against Switzerland on November 15 on the Felcsut field in Hungary.