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Italian Coaches Call for 'Genocidal' Israel's Suspension From FIFA, UEFA
"People might want us to just shut up and play, turn to look the other way, but we don't believe that is right."
Aug 20, 2025
The Italian Association of Football Coaches on Tuesday formally called on soccer's international and European governing bodies to suspend Israel over its "genocidal" annihilation of Gaza, a move that came ahead of next month's FIFA World Cup qualifying matches between the Azzurri and the Skyblue-and-Whites.
"Can a football match, preceded by the national anthems, be considered only a football match? Can what is happening in the Gaza Strip, with heavy reverberations in the West Bank and Lebanon, simply be counted as one of the 56 active conflicts in the world?" the AIAC National Board of Directors wrote in a letter.
"Can the Hamas terrorist massacre on October 7, 2023, with over a thousand innocent Israeli victims plus the taking of 250 hostages, justify Israel's ferocious genocidal retaliation, which has claimed tens of thousands of Palestinian civilian deaths?" the letter asks.
"These are all questions that the Italian Association of Football Coaches has asked itself and that it now asks the other federation components and the [Italian Football Federation] in light of the upcoming matches that will see the Italian national team, on September 8 and October 14, play the Israeli one," the coaches said.
The letter was commended by Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, who is Italian.The AIAC directors said they "unanimously believe that, faced with daily massacres, which have caused hundreds of deaths" of Gazan athletes and coaches, "including the Palestinian football star Suleiman al-Obeid," that "it is legitimate, necessary, and indeed dutiful" to ask the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) and the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) to temporarily suspend Israel, "because the pain of the past cannot obscure any consciousness and humanity."
AIAC president Renzo Ulivieri said in a statement that "this must not be just a symbolic gesture, but a necessary choice, which responds to a moral imperative, shared by the entire directorial board."
Giancarlo Camolese, AIAC's vice president, told the Italian news agency ANSA, "People might want us to just shut up and play, turn to look the other way, but we don't believe that is right."
Last week, UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin said that it is "legitimate" to question why the organization banned Russia over its invasion and occupation of Ukraine but not Israel for its genocidal annihilation of Gaza. This, after UEFA invited refugee children including Gazans to unfurl a banner reading "STOP KILLING CHILDREN" and "STOP KILLING CIVILIANS" on the pitch before a Super Cup match between Paris Saint-Germain and Tottenham Hotspur in Udine, Italy.
UEFA was criticized for not specifying who is killing children and civilians, just as it faced backlash for a tribute omitting who killed al-Obeid—known as the "Pelé of Palestinian football"—after he was slain by Israeli forces while trying to obtain food aid amid a growing forced famine in Gaza.
Israeli forces have killed hundreds of footballers in Gaza, where more than 62,000 Palestinians—mostly women and children, with the actual toll likely far higher—have been slain since October 2023 in a war for which Israel is facing a genocide case currently before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and for which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged crimes against humanity.
Israeli forces have also used sporting sites including Yarmouk Stadium for the detention of Palestinian men, women, and children, many of whom have reported torture and other abuse at the hands of their captors.
As they did before last year's Olympic Games in Paris, critics of Israel's obliteration of Gaza have called for the country's suspension from not only UEFA matches but also from next year's FIFA World Cup in Canada, Mexico, and the United States.
Unlike a growing number of countries in Europe and around the world, Italy has not signaled that it will recognize Palestinian statehood or support international efforts to hold Israel accountable for its crimes, most notably by supporting the ICJ genocide case. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government has also joined her counterparts in France and Germany in granting Netanyahu immunity from enforcement of the ICC arrest warrant.
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Restorative Archaeology? Time to Return Looted Treasures to Sardinia
A range of voices continue to demand the return of the island's looted treasures from private and public venues, including the British Museum in London.
Jun 28, 2025
When the small statues of a 3,000-year-old Bronze Age priestess and her archer protector take the stage at a Christie's auction next week in London, the Nurnet nonprofit organization in Sardinia plans to make their own bid to bring the sacred bronze pieces back home.
Despite decades of protests against the sale of the island's patrimony, where thousands of UNESCO-recognized Nuragic tower complexes attest to Sardinia's central role in the Mediterranean Sea during the Bronze Age, 2,000 years before the rise of the Roman Empire, a range of voices continue to demand the return of the island's looted treasures from private and public venues, including the British Museum in London.
"We think that the purchase could be of interest to the entire Sardinian community of enthusiasts," the all-volunteer organization Nurnet said in a statement, in launching a GoFundMe campaign for the auction. °The institutions do not have regulations that allow them to intervene in the short term and allocate the funds. We decided to intervene, with the savings of the members and the help of enthusiasts."
The history of Sardinia, especially the extraordinary findings from its Nuragic civilization in the Bronze Age, remains in a state of eternal recovery.
The Sardinian group successfully purchased four bronze pieces in 2015 at a similar auction, and then donated them to a local museum.
Last week, in fact, the Monte Prama Fondation, which has recently gained international attention for its 50-year restoration of massive stone giant sculptures from the Bronze Age, called on the British Museum to repatriate thousands of ancient Punic gold jewelry and Nuragic items that had been notoriously raided in the 19th century.
Despite the massive hoard of artifacts, which have been documented in various reports and a 270-page book, only a handful are on display at the London museum, while the rest have remained in storage for over a century.
While the British Museum Act of 1963 forbids the return of artifacts obtained by the institution, critics point to the museum's ability to "loan" their treasures back to the host country.
"Returning the bronzetti," Nurnet pointed out, "is also a way to tell a beautiful Sardinia story, to bring this work of art back to domu sua," the Sardinian language for "home."
For Nurnet advocates and other Sardinian groups, the extraordinary detective work of a Sardinian policeman and actions of the Cleveland Museum could serve as an example for the British Museum and other institutions.
In fact, the bronze priestess on sale at Christie's next week shares a common origin—the shadowy Switzerland art market in the 1990s.
On a recent trip to the Ferruccio Berreca Archaeological Museum in Sant'Antioco, I visited a small bronze archer in a glass case, straddling the piece of stone, with two long unwieldy horns thrusting up on his helmet, as if challenging anyone to a charge. Yet, this miniature figure in bronze, a little over eight inches tall, which was tall for the rest of the pieces in the Bronze Age collection, stood there with a gesture of confidence, his hand outstretched in an offering, as if willing to tell the story of his twisted journey.
Centuries before Homer composed The Odyssey, the Sardinians cast miniature bronzes or bronzetti, including ships, among hundreds of other types of bronze pieces. They were vessels of stories. Found mainly in sacred water temples or a rare tomb, they served as exquisite votive offerings dating back to the 12th or 11th centuries B.C.
In 1865, a shepherd uncovered a trove of bronzetti at the Nuragic sanctuary site of Abini in the heart of the central mountains, including an otherworldly figure with four arms and four eyes, with two long horns jutting from its helmet, holding the two round shields that some associated with the ancient Shardana or "People of the Sea" that arrived in Egypt, while others believed it referred to Plato's Symposium on the original four-eyed humans divided in half by Zeus.
These tiny artifacts, often no more than 5-12 inches, spread across sacred sites on the island, including the most remote uplands, and then crossed over the sea into Etruscan tombs, at numerous sites in Tuscany, Lazio, and Apuglia. They journeyed along the Italian boot of civilizations, entering the Greek Sanctuary of Hera Lacinia at the tip of Calabria, on the Ionian Sea, on the eastern coast of Italy.
Each one of these boats, like the hundreds that remained behind in Sardinia, observed archaeologist Fulvia Lo Schiavo, was "not only a work of refined artistic craftsmanship and a precious and sacred object," but it was also "in itself a story and a message," following its own cosmology and narrative.
The Cleveland Museum had hailed one bronzetti figure as an "exceptionally fine example" of bronze work in the lost-wax method, produced by "a rather mysterious group of people who lived in Sardinia in the first millennium B.C. and who left no written records." In the catalog of their notable acquisitions in 1991, the American museum dated the artifact back to the ninth century B.C. They called it "the warrior," and used it as the logo for a section in the museum.
Anyone in Sardinia would have called it "the archer," given the extraordinary longbow hanging off the shoulder of the figure, the distinctive arm guard on the left forearm, a quiver for the arrows on his back. At least, that's what Lieutenant Roberto Lai thought when he saw the Polaroid photo of the bronze figure for the first time. Serving with the heritage protection unit of the Carabiniere police, Lai had been placed in charge of sorting through a treasure trove of documents and artifacts traced to a notorious trafficker of art in Basel, Switzerland in the mid-1990s.
Thanks to two strange, fatal car crashes in Sardinia over a 10-year period, both of which left behind briefcases of cash, diaries with addresses of clandestine diggers and their contacts, and a chart of acquisitions, Lai was able to connect the dots with the infamous Swiss brigand and his warehouse.
Turning over the photo of the archer, Lai got the surprise of a lifetime. "Grutt'e Acqua" was scrawled across the back, tracing the piece to its origins at the 1500 B.C. Nuragic site on the smaller island of Sant'Antioco, where Lai had grown up. It was neither "mysterious," that fulsome code word often trotted out to cover a lack of historical inquiry, nor legally acquired, in Lai's view.
Lai knew the legacy of the nuraghe at Grutt'e Acqua or Grutti 'e Acqua, variously translated as "the grottoes of water," or "the grottoes and water," was not just a pile of rocks, but an intricate architectural wonder of waterways and millennial planning. But he wasn't alone.
The tomb raider also knew, like any shepherd in Sardinia, that the ornate water temples or sacred wells nearby housed the bronze sculptures that had been left as communal offerings. Trudging up my same path, the raider most likely bypassed the Nuragic reservoir that sat at the basin of the hill, a green pool encased by small boulders with the mystic air of a lake in the woods.
"Electrified" by the discovery of the photo and its connection to his island, Lai followed the trail left by the trafficker, his Polaroid in hand, only to come up empty-handed with its match to any institution or collector. Where had the archer gone? No final receipts of his transactions were to be found. The cultural heritage detective didn't give up. Over the next few years, he obsessively dug through any announcements or catalogs or listings at museums, auctions, and private collections with artifacts from Sardinia and Italy. The collections were endless. They still are today.
An entire book on ancient Sardinian artifacts behind lock and key at the British Museum dated back to "boatloads" of "very remarkable" items that had been plundered at 36 tombs in the 1850s. Much of it came from the Tharros and Mont'e Prama areas. The British Museum had its own Sardinian archer, too, though he dramatically drew back his arrow, as if to protect himself. The Getty Museum in Los Angeles featured its Nuragic archer, though it differed in the details. In 1990, The New York Times featured a show at the Merrin Gallery in New York City: "Bronzes Conjure Up Images of a Fabled Past." It included the "raw power" of a Nuragic priest from the ninth century B.C. (The Merrin Gallery would be embroiled in fraud and the acquisition of "questionable antiquities" for years.)
In fact, hardly any major archaeological museum didn't have artifacts from the Bronze Age in Sardinia. While Christie's famous auction house once called off a million-dollar auction for a 4,000-year-old stone carving from the island in 2014, after the Italian police objected to the "robbery of the heritage and civilization of Sardinia," it still continues to peddle Sardinian bronzes. One five-inch Nuragic figure from the Bronze Age went for $125,000 in 2017. It also came from a private dealer in Switzerland.
The trafficking of these prized pieces, among other riches, was an old tradition, of course, dating back to the Roman period. In 1365, the governor of Cagliari brought ancient jewels dug up from a prehistoric site to the Court of Spain, as an elaborate offering from the island. The honeycombing of ruins was so bad that a law was passed in 1481 to stop the digging for treasure, especially among the clergy.
Not just for jewels. By the mid-16th century, a common proverb recounted how the stone walls of the Nuragic, Phoenician, and Roman city of Tharros were "transported away in cartloads." In 1851, the pioneering archeologist and clergyman Giovanni Spano called on government officials to protect the prehistoric sites, which he feared had fallen into the hands of "other people who will not know how to appreciate them."
In 1923, National Geographic magazine lamented the national pasttime of tomb raiders and archaeological thieves in Sardinia, as if the craze hadn't let up. Even the Nazis craved Sardinian artifacts. During a visit to the island in the late 1930s, Adolf Hitler's deputy Hermann Göering attempted to take a priceless glass-beaded necklace that had been recently excavated at a Punic necropolis dating to 300 B.C.
One evening, scrolling online, doing his usual regimen of going museum by museum, the Sardinian detective landed on the Cleveland Museum of Art site. He was stunned by the match. It was the archer in his Polaroid.
It took 18 months of high-level negotiations, including the involvement of the attorney general in Ohio, but the Sardinians managed to convince the American museum to return the stolen artifact. In exchange, in fact, the Italian government had to agree to two conditions: that the archer, among other stolen goods, would be returned to its native place, and that Italy would loan 13 exhibits of similar value for the next 25 years.
When the archer finally arrived at the Ferruccio Barreca Archaeological Museum in Sant'Antioco in 2009, Lai stood by for its installation. The archer's placement in that little glass case was deceiving with its significance. The detective would eventually write a book, as well as a graphic novel, on the true crime adventure, as well as other histories of Sant'Antioco. Lai declared the Nuragic archer had returned to "where history had placed it."
Or recovered it, perhaps. Just like the Nurnet effort today with the bronze figures at the Christie's auction.
In effect, their campaign amounts to a new trend that should be called "restorative archaeology." In a period of cultural revival, it speaks to the process of "re-storying" the island and its history.
Meanwhile, the history of Sardinia, especially the extraordinary findings from its Nuragic civilization in the Bronze Age, remains in a state of eternal recovery.
At least until tomb raiders, and institutions like the British Museum, follow the example of the Cleveland Museum.
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Under Pressure From Anti-Oligarchy Protests, Bezos Moves Venice Wedding Party Venue
"We're just citizens who started organizing and we managed to move one of the most powerful people in the world," said one protest organizer.
Jun 25, 2025
Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez on Tuesday relocated their upcoming lavish Venice wedding celebration, a move cheered as an "enormous victory" by protesters whose recent demonstrations in the northeastern Italian city have highlighted the socioeconomic and climate damage caused by billionaires.
Bezos—who is currently the world's fourth-richest person, according to lists published by Bloomberg and Forbes—is set to marry Sánchez, a journalist, later this week, and the couple is planning to celebrate the occasion with a three-day extravaganza costing an estimated $46-56 million, according to Reuters.
Around 90 private jets are scheduled to land in area airports and local yacht harbors are fully booked, underscoring the climate and environmental impact on a city struggling to survive on one of myriad frontlines of the planetary emergency.
"We are very proud of this! We are nobodies, we have no money, nothing!"
The nuptial celebration has been relocated from the Scuola Grande della Misericordia to the Arsenale di Venezia, a historic fortified palace about 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) away from the original location. Officials cited concerns for the security of guests including several members of U.S. President Donald Trump's family.
Members of groups including No Space for Bezos, Greenpeace Italy, and Everyone Hates Elon—which targets Elon Musk, the world's richest person—have staged a series of demonstrations, including one on Monday at which protesters laid out a massive banner with Bezos' face and the message "If You Can Rent Venice for Your Wedding You Can Pay More Tax" in Piazza San Marco.
Responding to the celebration's relocation, Tommaso Cacciari of No Space for Bezos told the BBC Wednesday: "We are very proud of this! We are nobodies, we have no money, nothing!"
"We're just citizens who started organizing and we managed to move one of the most powerful people in the world," Cacciari added.
Wedding-related festivities are set to kick off Thursday evening, and city officials have blocked off parts of central Venice. While some residents have welcomed the money and fanfare the event will bring to a city with a long and storied history of oligarchs and opulence, others bristle at what they see as the transformation of their home into a playground for the superrich.
"There's only one thing that rules now: money, money, money, so we are the losers," Venice resident Nadia Rigo told Reuters. "We who were born here have to either move to the mainland or we have to ask them for permission to board a ferry. They've become the masters."
In the United States, critics contrasted the stratospheric cost of Bezos' celebration with the multicentibillionaire's history of personal and corporate tax dodging—and the hyper-capitalist system that enables it.
"Jeff Bezos is worth $230 billion and is reportedly spending $20 million on a three-day wedding in Venice while sailing around on his $500 million yacht," former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich said Wednesday on the social media site X. "If he can afford to do that, he can afford a wealth tax and to pay Amazon workers a living wage. Hello?"
This is oligarchy. This is obscene.While 60% live paycheck to paycheck & kids go hungry, Jeff Bezos, worth $230 billion, goes to Venice on his $500 million yacht for a $20 million wedding & spends $5 million on a ring while his real tax rate is just 1.1%.End this oligarchy.
— Senator Bernie Sanders (@sanders.senate.gov) June 24, 2025 at 9:04 AM
While No Space for Bezos organizers are celebrating their victory and have canceled plans to fill Venice's canals with inflatable crocodiles in a bid to block celebrity guests from accessing the Scuola Grande della Misericordia, they said they still plan on protesting the festivities by holding a "No Bezos, No War" rally and march.
"It will be a strong, decisive protest, but peaceful," Federica Toninello of the Social Housing Assembly network told Euronews Wednesday. "We want it to be like a party, with music, to make clear what we want our Venice to look like."
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