How Israel plans to foil Palestine's FIFA sanctions campaign
From threats of imprisonment to WhatsApp brainstorming groups involving government and military officials, Israel is clearly concerned by the Palestinian campaign to impose FIFA sanctions.
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The past few months have seen growing demands from activists, grassroots movements and sports federations alike calling on entities such as FIFA and the International Olympic Committee to sanction Israel from international sports.
Arguably the most significant effort has come from the Palestinian Football Association (PFA), which demanded that the FIFA Congress—set to convene on May 17 in Bangkok, Thailand—consider “appropriate” sanctions against the Israeli Football Association (IFA) and its clubs because of “unprecedented international human rights and humanitarian law violations committed by the Israeli occupation in Palestine, particularly in Gaza”.
The proposal also raised a series of breaches of the FIFA statues being committed by the Israeli Football Association (IFA), including the IFA’s incorporation of “illegal settlement clubs located in the territory of the PFA into its national league, which is a material violation of several articles of the FIFA statutes.” The proposal also stated that the IFA was complicit in the Israeli government’s abuses against Palestinian football—including the destruction of Gaza’s football infrastructure—by providing “moral, economic, and practical support to the occupation.”
“In light of the ongoing global tensions and sentiments surrounding the situation in Gaza, there is a legitimate concern that some football associations may refuse to play against Israel, jeopardizing the efficient organization and smooth running of matches,” the PFA statement concluded.
Though the motion has so far only garnered the support of a handful of Middle Eastern and North African associations, including those of Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Syria and Yemen, it nevertheless elicited some visceral reactions from Israeli government officials. Israel’s foreign affairs minister, Israel Katz, even went so far as to threaten to arrest PFA president Jibril Rajoub should the motion pass later this month.
“Jibril Rajoub, a terrorist in a suit who openly supported Hamas’s crimes, is working around the clock to get Israel removed from the international soccer association,” Katz wrote in a tweet, which included a picture of Rajoub in prison attire.
“We will work to thwart his plans, and if he doesn’t stop—we will imprison him in the Muqata’a [presidential compound in Ramallah], where he will be left to play Stanga by himself between the walls,” added Katz.
Katz is far from the first Israeli official to call for Rajoub’s arrest. Far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir attempted to have Rajoub arrested several months ago but was blocked by Shin Bet, Israel’s security agency, which stated that “the situation is sensitive right now, and so the investigation will not be advanced.” Rajoub had drawn Ben-Gvir’s wrath after stating in a November 2023 interview that Israel was responsible for the tragic events of October 7 due to its “aggression on all the Palestinian lands.”
Rajoub has a long history in Palestinian politics. He is a veteran leader of Palestinian nationalist party Fatah and was considered one of the potential successors to Mahmoud Abbas. In 1970, Rajoub was sentenced to life in prison for attacking Israeli soldiers but was released in 1985 as part of the prisoner swap. He was deported to Lebanon in 1988 following the outbreak of the First intifada. He returned to the West Bank in 1994 as part of the Oslo peace process and headed the Preventative Security service until his removal by Yasser Arafat in 2002.
Rajoub has served at the helm of the PFA since 2006 and has been credited for professionalizing the institution and improving the national team’s global standing. He also serves as president of the Palestine Olympic Committee.
The PFA president was handed a 12-month suspension in 2018 after being found guilty of breaching article 53 (Inciting hatred and violence) of the FIFA Disciplinary Code, following media statements he gave calling on football fans to target the Argentinian Football Association and burn jerseys and pictures of Lionel Messi ahead of a friendly match in Jerusalem between Israel and Argentina. The match was later cancelled.
Over the years, Rajoub has been involved in several unsuccessful campaigns to exclude Israel from FIFA, including a 2015 campaign to ban the IFA as a result of Israel’s restrictions on the movement of Palestinian players and sporting equipment, and the participation in the Israeli championships of five clubs located in Jewish settlements in the West Bank. At the time, Rajoub was forced to drop his campaign due to a lack of support from member associations.
Nevertheless, Rajoub’s latest attempt to demand sanctions against Israel is clearly worrying Israeli officials. On May 2, IFA President Moshe Shino Zuares sent a letter to FIFA President Gianni Infantino distancing the association from the “unnecessary, unacceptable, and flamboyant post made by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Israel.”
“I am deeply convinced, with all my heart, that the Palestinian attempt to lead to sanctions against Israeli football is political in its essence and I have no doubt that FIFA will know how to thwart it as it has done many times in the past under your leadership, Mr. President,” Zuares wrote before congratulating Infantino on his “significant contribution in the creation of the historical Abraham accords between the State of Israel and the United Arab Emirates in the White House, a very significant event in which you were a full partner.”
On Monday, a letter was sent to European Union institutions and leaders describing the “alarming and discriminatory treatment of Palestinian sports and athletes by the European and global sports governing bodies”. The letter, which referenced Katz’s threats to Rajoub, also noted a May 5 article in Israeli media which revealed that “the Israeli military is working around the clock with the goal of arriving as prepared as possible and torpedoing the initiative of the Palestinian Association.”
The article went on to state that the IFA’s “biggest fear is that this time the issue will come to a vote at the FIFA Congress, an event full of political intrigue and combinations, in which 211 associations will participate. There, unlike the United Nations, there is no right of veto of one country or another…therefore there is reasonable chance that in such a case the nightmare of Israeli football will come true.” Therefore, the aim of the IFA’s disruption tactics is to ensure that the PFA petition does not reach a vote in Congress, as was the case with the previous campaigns in 2015 and 2017.
“We will keep pushing the IOC and FIFA to follow their principles,” Rajoub told Al Jazeera in an exclusive interview in January. “I hope the international community, whether it’s sport or civil societies, will understand that it’s the time to raise a red card [for Israel].”
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