The FAI has voted to submit a motion to UEFA to ban Israel from its European club and international competitions.
The vote - proposed by Bohemians - was put to the FAI's General Assembly at an EGM this afternoon, which was held directly before the AGM in Blanchardstown in Dublin.
The proposal for the vote cited two alleged violations of UEFA statutes by the Israel Football Association (IFA): organising clubs in occupied Palestinian territories without the consent of the Palestinian FA; and the alleged failure of the IFA to enforce an effective anti-racism policy.
The motion required support from 50% of FAI delegates to pass. It passed by a majority, with 74 votes in favour, seven against and two abstentions.
The General Assembly consists of three chambers: professional football, amateur and youth football and a national bodies group which represents schoolboys' and schoolgirls' football.
At the end of September, UEFA delayed a planned emergency vote on whether to suspend Israel from European competition over the war in Gaza, after US President Donald Trump unveiled his peace plan for the region.
In a statement the FAI said: "In an Extraordinary General Meeting of the Football Association of Ireland, an Ordinary Resolution was posed to members of the FAI General Assembly. It passed by a majority - 74 in favour, 7 against, 2 abstained.
"The Ordinary Resolution posed that the Board of Directors of the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) is hereby instructed to and shall, without delay:
i. Submit a formal motion (the "Motion") to the UEFA Executive Committee requesting the immediate suspension of the Israel Football Association (IFA) from UEFA competitions due to its violating two independent provisions of the UEFA Statutes, namely:
1. The organisation of clubs in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank without the consent of the Palestinian Football Association, in breach of FIFA Statutes (Article 73) and UEFA Statutes (Article 5);
2. The failure of the IFA to implement and enforce an effective anti-racism policy, in breach of UEFA Statutes (Article 7bis) and related disciplinary regulations (together, the "Violations").
ii. Call on UEFA to publish transparent criteria for the suspension or exclusion of member associations to ensure equal treatment of all members."
'Two serious breaches' of UEFA statutes
Bohemian FC Chief Operating Officer Daniel Lambert proposed the motion.
He said its purpose was to highlight "two serious breaches of the UEFA statutes that have taken place now for a long number of years".
"First, and probably the most important, is that there are teams playing on occupied lands, which is explicitly prohibited by UEFA statute for very good reason.
"And the second is the absolute failure of UEFA to tackle serious instances and continued instances of racism, which has been highlighted by numerous Israeli NGOs, as well as international NGOs, so it's not something that people are commenting on without knowledge."
Mr Lambert said "it flies in the face of logic that one association, in a game governed by rules, can breach UEFA statutes with no measures taken against them, or with no roadmap to take any action".
He said the motion will now be sent by the FAI to UEFA.
"We've asked the FAI to instruct UEFA EXCO ( executive committee) to take action against the Israeli FA under the statutes. They should be excluded from competitions, that's what we're hoping will happen."
Vote follows Norwegian and Turkish FA calls
UEFA considered holding a vote early last month on whether to suspend Israel from European competitions over the war in Gaza, a source told Reuters at the time.
Internal discussions at UEFA about a possible ban were set aside after a US-brokered ceasefire took effect on 10 October.
The FAI resolution follows calls in September from the heads of the Turkish and Norwegian soccer governing bodies for Israel to be suspended from international competition.
Those requests came after United Nations experts appealed to FIFA and UEFA to suspend Israel from international football, citing a UN Commission of Inquiry report that said Israel had committed genocide during the war in Gaza.
Israel has denied committing genocide and described the report as scandalous.
Additional reporting: Reuters
