By Andrew Warshaw
April 23 – A rightwing Israeli non-governmental organisation has stepped up the propaganda war of words over the treatment of Palestinian footballers in the West Bank and Gaza by blaming Palestinian football leader Jibril Rajoub for deliberately stirring up trouble.
Mattot Arim has responded to Rajoub’s call for Israel to be suspended by FIFA by urging world football’s governing body to expel Rajoub instead because, it claims, he is a front for promoting terrorism.
Responding to the demand for Israel to be thrown out of FIFA unless restrictions on Palestinian footballers travelling between the West bank and Gaza are lifted, Mattot Arim says such restrictions are necessary because of ongoing security concerns, accusing Rajoub of “openly mis-using sports competitions…as venues at which to praise terrorism and present murderers as desirable role models.”
In emailed correspondence containing extremely uncompromising language, Mattot Arim, formed in 1992, refutes what it describes as Rajoub’s “baseless accusations” saying the head of the Palestine Football Association is in no position to complain about racism because “he himself” has publicly referred to “Jews, Satans, Zionist sons of bitches.”
In its hard-hitting letter to FIFA, part of which has been seen by Insideworldfootball, Mattot Arim takes Rajoub to task on a number of issues. One of these is a claim that Rajoub personally opposed a match between Palestinian and Israeli children even though it was sponsored by the so-called Israeli Peres Centre for Peace.
“FIFA’s mission is ‘developing football for all…building a better future for all through football’,” the letter to FIFA says. “But Rajoub’s philosophy is exactly the opposite. Suspend Rajoub – not Israel.”
Whether Mattot Arim’s rant – similar in tone to many of Rajoub’s personal attacks on Israeli behaviour – can be taken seriously is open to question given its staunch rightwing status. But it illustrates the depth of feeling on both sides and comes at a highly sensitive time in FIFA’s attempts at mediation, with the FIFA Congress just over a month away.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1732931164labto1732931164ofdlr1732931164owedi1732931164sni@w1732931164ahsra1732931164w.wer1732931164dna1732931164