Israeli NGO demands FIFA kick out Palestinian soccer head for supporting terror
Shurat Hadin's letter to FIFA's Sepp Blatter provides a slew of examples when Jibril Rajoub, a Fatah official, violated FIFA statutes.
By MICHELLE MALKA GROSSMANPalestinian Football Association President Jibril Rajoub (L) and FIFA President Sepp Blatter(photo credit: REUTERS)
NGO Shurat Hadin is calling on FIFA to expel the head of the Palestinian Football Association for serving as a member of a terror organization at the same time while heading the PFA, calling it a blatent violation of basic FIFA principles.The letter by Shurat Hadin's President Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, sent on Tuesday to FIFA head Sepp Blatter, gives examples of PFA president Jibril Rajoub calling for terror against civilians while serving simultaneously in Fatah.Shurat Hadin provided a slew of examples of Rajoub's calls for violence and discrimination against Israelis which violates Article 3 of the FIFA Statutes and of Article 53 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code."It is outrageous that FIFA would allow a senior official of a terror organization to serve in a public position,” the letter stated.It pointed out that Fatah is the parent organization of the murderous al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigade, and that Fatah was the organization behind the killing of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympic games in Munich."Rajoub, personally, and in combination with others on the Central Committee of Fatah, actively supports and renders aid to AAMB and engages in public conduct designed to foster discrimination and terrorist violence against Jews and Israelis, inviolation of the FIFA principles and of the FIFA disciplinary code."One example given of Rajoub's violations was what he said in August 2014, while serving as PFA head, that “Fatah has decided that our relations with the Israelis are relations between enemies...am I stopping you from slaughtering a settlement? No one is stopping anyone."Speaking of the use of violence against Israelis, Rajoub was cited as saying that “[I]f we had nuclear weapons, we’d be using them."In September 2014, Rajoub was quoted giving praise to Gazan terrorists for firing over 4,000 rockets at Israeli civilians during Operation Protective Edge.
"These brutal terrorist attacks, designed to murder innocent civilians, were all promoted, supervised, and glorified by Rajoub at the same time that he was President of the Palestine Football Association."The letter ended with a call to "preserve the impartiality and good name of FIFA" by disciplining Rajoub and removing him from any official position with FIFA."On May 1, Rajoub announced a proposition to expel Israel from FIFA's governing body at this month's FIFA Congress. A suspension would mean that Israel, which is affiliated to UEFA, could no longer compete in the Euro 2016 qualifiers and its clubs would be barred from European competition.Last year, Rajoub agreed to drop a resolution urging delegates to take sanctions against Israel at FIFA's Congress in Sao Paulo but he said on Friday he would press ahead with the same proposal in Zurich on May 29.Reuters contributed to this report.