Footage aired by Israeli media and widely circulated online in late March appears to show Menashe Zalka, captain of Israeli Premier League football side Hapoel Hadera, firing a grenade launcher and a machine gun while serving in uniform with the Israeli army in southern Lebanon.
The video of Zalka’s involvement in Israel’s offensive in Lebanon has prompted football officials and fans to renew calls for FIFA to ban the Israeli Football Association (IFA), which was recently handed a fine of 150,000 Swiss francs ($189,000) by the sport’s global governing body.
According to media reports, the video, broadcast by Israel’s Channel 14 and later amplified on social media, shows Zalka inside what appears to be a damaged residential structure in southern Lebanon during ongoing military operations.
The images have triggered anger among pro-Palestinian campaigners and football fans, who say the conduct raises serious ethical and disciplinary questions for world football’s governing bodies.
Zalka, a reservist in the Israeli army’s paratrooper brigade, has previously spoken publicly about pausing his football career to serve in the military, including during earlier operations in Gaza.
Israeli media reports and social media posts said he had again joined active duty as fighting expanded beyond Gaza.
FIFA’s disciplinary committee found the IFA guilty of “multiple breaches” of anti-discrimination obligations on March 19, but did not suspend the Israeli body despite calls from the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) and rights groups.
The Palestinian Football Association (PFA) and other critics have seized on the footage as fresh evidence in their broader campaign for tougher sanctions against Israeli football, arguing that FIFA.