Opinion
FIFA must reject the latest attempt to demonise Israel
Instead of condemning the atrocity of October 7, the response of the head of the Palestinian Football Association was to demand Israel is banned
August 23, 2024 10:12
3 min read
Instead of condemning the atrocity of October 7, the response of the head of the Palestinian Football Association was to demand Israel is banned
August 23, 2024 10:12The move in the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) to impose sanctions on Israel and the Israel Football Association (IFA) is nothing more than an opaque attempt to mix politics with sports, and politicise football’s governing body. In order to protect football, in particular, and sport in general, FIFA must reject this latest attempt to demonise Israel.
Instead of condemning the atrocity of October 7, the response of the head of the Palestinian Football Association, Jibril Rajoub, was to approach FIFA and request that the world football organisation sanction Israel for defending itself.
This is not Rajoub’s first attempt to politicise football. Between 2013 and 2017, Rajoub led a similar campaign to delegitimise Israel. That effort ended in abject failure when FIFA rightly decided to reject his false narrative. A year later, it was Rajoub himself that was sanctioned by FIFA, banned for a year and fined, for inciting violence.
The depths to which Rajoub is willing to sink should not come as a surprise to anyone. Rajoub was previously sentenced to life in prison and has openly called for terror attacks to murder Jews.
Based on a sorry cacophony of baseless claims, Rajoub is demanding that FIFA abandon both its commitment to neutrality and its guiding mission to use sport as a unifying factor. In the eyes of Rajoub, FIFA is just another Palestinian pawn, to be used and abused to promote his ideology.
Rajoub and his many supporters are running a multi-million-dollar worldwide media campaign to defame Israel and whitewash the terrorists.
To consider Rajoub’s request, the FIFA Council established yet another advisory committee. The committee is meant to present its findings and recommendations in the coming days, towards a final decision to be made at the end of August.
The IFA that Rajoub seeks to sanction has been a member of FIFA for almost 100 years. In the sea of Middle Eastern turmoil, the IFA is a beacon of light in which Jews, Arabs, Muslims, Christians and others all enjoy the most noble of sports. In contrast to Rajoub’s political drive, IFA is the embodiment of FIFA’s ideals: Israeli Arabs alongside Israeli Jews proudly put on their club and national uniforms together, casting divisionary politics aside.
A question now begs: Will FIFA allow itself to be hoodwinked by the terror-supporting lies?
A decision by FIFA to single out Israel, without addressing the genocidal attacks of Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Iran against Israel, would be setting a unique standard for the only Jewish country in the world. Creating this Jew-specific standard would be a fundamental breach of FIFA’s own commitment to neutrality, not to mention a breach of FIFA’s own statute that rejects racism.
Rajoub’s request to extend the scope of FIFA’s disciplinary actions to include the imposition of sanctions on any country that allegedly breaches human rights is similarly problematic. What would FIFA do with China’s persecution of the Uyghurs or the current conflict in Bangladesh? What would FIFA do with the racism of the Palestinian entity that forbids the sale of land to Jews, a crime punishable with a maximum sentence to life imprisonment with hard labor? What would FIFA do with the persecution of Christians in Nigeria? What would FIFA do with the war in Sudan? What would FIFA do with the alleged abuses of human rights in Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Brazil, Mexico, El-Salvador, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Guatemala, Colombia, Chile, and Ecuador? What would FIFA do with what the UN described as the “the catastrophic human rights decline in Egypt”? How would FIFA explain sanctioning Israel, but simultaneously ignoring the fact that the Syrian regime still regularly employs torture on its own citizens who have been tortured to death, in direct breach of an order given by the International Court of Justice? Will FIFA also sanction Ukraine for defending itself against the Russian aggression?
Unless FIFA is willing to allow itself to be used as a platform to reward both the genocidal Gazan terrorists for the October 7 massacre and their continued holding of hostages as well as Rajoub’s politicisation of the organisation, FIFA’s Council would be well advised to maintain the organisation’s neutral position, reject the latest Palestinian abuse, and ensure that international football remains above political considerations.
The writer is the director of the Initiative for Palestinian Authority Accountability and Reform in the Jerusalem Center for Foreign Affairs. He served for 19 years in the IDF Military Advocate-General Corps. In his last position, he served as director of the Military Prosecution in Judea and Samaria