Israeli broadcaster says it has been told by Uefa not to show Euro 2020 in the West Bank

Uefa sold the television rights to show Euro 2020 and the European qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup in the Middle East and North Africa to the Qatari-owned broadcaster beIN Sports.

beIN, which is part of the Al Jazeera Media Network, is understood to have insisted on creating a tender for Israel that was separate from the Palestinian territories.

However, it is unclear where the geographical line was drawn between the two tenders and whether the Israeli contract includes the areas of East Jerusalem annexed by Israel after 1967.

Sports Minister Miri Regev slammed both the broadcaster and Uefa: “Kan is funded by public money and must fight for the right to broadcast to Judea and Samaria and not give in to the futile demands of Uefa that delegitimize Israel and question our country’s sovereignty.” 

She added: “Sports organisations cannot be allowed to decide where Israel’s borders will be. It’s about time that everybody understood that Judea and Samaria are an integral part of the State of Israel. Uefa has scored an own goal.

“Broadcasts must include the hundreds of thousands of our citizens living in Judea and Samaria. Uefa should not bring politics into sport.”

The tender is now likely to be won by one of Israel’s privately owned cable or satellite TV companies.