Israel killed my teammate. Why hasn’t any sports organization taken action against them?
This week, Israel will participate in FIFA World Cup Qualifiers. Next year, it will participate in the World Baseball Classic. They should be banned from both.
As I watched the Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers open their season in Japan last week, a deep sadness overcame me. All I could think about was my late Palestine Baseball teammate and friend Ashraf Awad Murad, who Israel killed last year in Gaza.
The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) were conducting operations in March 2024 in the Gaza Strip—specifically the Al-Shati and Al-Shifa area. That’s where Murad and his family were. They were displaced and were scattered among the wounded. After the IOF withdrew, Murad went to check on family near Al-Shifa Hospital. While en route, he was targeted by a quadcopter—a drone equipped with guns or bombs— and was martyred immediately.
Murad is one of more than 700 athletes who have been killed by Israel since Oct.7, 2023. According to the Palestinian Sports Media Association, Israel’s genocidal tactics have killed 369 soccer players, 105 members of scouting organizations, and 234 athletes from various sports federations. Israel has also destroyed 273 sports facilities, including stadiums, gyms and club facilities, either partially or completely. One of those facilities is where the baseball and softball federation trained.
Despite these crimes against humanity, Israel is still allowed to compete on the world’s stages. Their soccer team began 2026 World Cup qualifier matches on March 22, and its baseball team is slated to compete in next year’s World Baseball Classic. Murad—and the other tens of thousands of martyrs—should disqualify Israel from those competitions.
Murad, 39, left behind his wife and five children. He was a respectable and creative person who would help anyone he could.
“I miss his words that were comforting, and I miss his presence, which gave me strength and reassurance,” Murad’s wife Suhair told Palestine in America. “Despite his loss, his memory will remain immortal in my heart, and his advice and love will remain a light to guide me in my life. May God have mercy on you, my husband, and reward you with the best reward.”
Before the genocide, Murad worked in the National Security Service and for the Palestine Baseball and Softball Federation.
According to Mahmoud Tafesh, the founder of the baseball federation, Murad began to admire the game when he watched members of the community training in Gaza. He signed up and quickly learned the game. Instantly, he was an ambassador and was one of the main people growing the game in Palestine. He taught his children the sport and began to inform anyone in the Strip that would listen about “America’s pastime.”
By 2023, Murad was on the roster and traveled to Pakistan for Palestine’s first international baseball tournament—the West Asia Cup. Palestine finished in second place and earned an invitation to the Asian Championships in Taiwan later that year.
Two months before Murad and other members of the federation were scheduled to travel, the genocide against their people began. Israel and Egypt closed the borders, and just like that, my teammates have been trapped in the Strip ever since.
A few months after competing in the Asian Championships, we received the horrific news about Murad. We were devastated, and the most we could do was dedicate every future game to him.
On March 17, 2025, Israel increased their ceasefire violations exponentially when they killed more than 450 Palestinians and injured at least 679 others, with many more still trapped under the rubble.
Daily since October 2023, I’ve woken up afraid for my teammates and members of the federation. That fear increases every day as international organizations like FIFA and the World Baseball Federation remain silent and complicit. If the bombs don’t harm my teammates and colleagues, Israel is actively starving them to death as the occupation has not allowed aid into the Strip since the beginning of Ramadan on Feb. 28. And even when aid was allowed in, it wasn't nearly enough.
Every country should place an arms embargo on Israel, but at the very least, in honor of Murad and the hundreds of other athletes that have been killed by the IOF, FIFA should give Israel the red card,and the World Baseball Federation should ban Israel from all international competition.
There isn't any indication the sports institutions will take action against Israel. Palestine’s soccer federation has consistently asked FIFA to intervene and enforce its rules because of Israel’s egregious violations. Palestine’s most recent complaint to FIFA highlighted Israel’s human rights violations since October 2023 and the fact that it incorporates teams from illegal settlements in the West Bank in its leagues without Palestine’s blessing, which FIFA prohibits.
These institutions owe it to Murad, who will be remembered in high regard among his friends and family.
“My father was the greatest man I have ever known in my life,” Murad’s 20-year-old daughter Nada told Palestine in America. “He was not just a father, but he was an irreplaceable friend, teacher, and supporter. My relationship with him was based on love and respect, and he was always close to me. He listened to me and supported me in all stages of my life. My father was distinguished by noble qualities that made him a role model. He was a generous person who did not skimp on giving, whether with a kind word or with actual help to everyone who needed it. He was patient and wise, did not rush his decisions, and always guided me in a calm way full of love.”
