Jibril Rajoub, President of the Palestinian Authority’s soccer association, is calling for the Israeli Soccer Association to be removed from all international institutions.
Speaking at a press conference at the Joseph Blatter Academy in Al-Bireh, Rajoub justified his demand by claiming that the Israeli Soccer Association is “a partner in the racist discrimination" prevalent in sports clubs located on “our occupied lands," as well as in the “crimes" committed during the war in the Gaza Strip.
According to Rajoub, “the genocide and ethnic cleansing" in Gaza and the damage inflicted on Palestinian Arab sports were carried out by “those responsible for sports in Israel, some of whom directly participated in these crimes."
“Sporting activities funded by international institutions must not take place on occupied lands," Rajoub said, adding that the issue is on the agenda for the upcoming FIFA meeting.
Citing legal advice, Rajoub stated that the presence of Israeli sports clubs on “occupied Palestinian lands" constitutes a clear violation of the sovereignty of the PA soccer association.
Rajoub is demanding that Israel pay compensation to rebuild all Palestinian Arab sports facilities damaged during the war in Gaza, as well as compensation to the families of Palestinian athletes who were killed.
Rajoub, a senior member of Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction who served a prison sentence in Israel for security offenses and was released in the Jibril Agreement, regularly incites against Israel, and has in the past said that Jews deserved the genocide inflicted on them by the Nazis.
In October 2011, he delivered a speech at a ceremony honoring the terrorists released by Israel in the Shalit deal, in which he praised Hamas for abducting the soldier and hailed the released prisoners as heroes.
In another incident, he declared that if the PA had a nuclear bomb, it would use it against Israel.
In 2018, Rajoub was suspended for a year from FIFA for inciting hatred and violence, after he called on soccer fans to target the Argentinian Soccer Association and burn jerseys and pictures of Messi when he was scheduled to play a friendly game in Israel.
He appealed the suspension from FIFA, but the appeal was dismissed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
In August of 2024, Rajoub said in a TV interview that then-Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who orchestrated the October 7 massacre, is a “pragmatic, patriotic, and realistic man" and that Israel is attempting to demonize him.