The global body of football, FIFA, have rejected the Palestinians attempts to punish Israeli teams, with FIFA heads showing clear signs of frustration at the Palestinians for turning football into politics in their unrelenting pursuit against Israel.
It was two weeks ago that the World Football Association (FIFA) announced it was rejecting the Palestinian petition to disqualify Israeli teams that play in Judea and Samaria (the so-called West Bank).
However, the story was not over and FIFA recently informed Israeli officials that the Palestinians have not given up the fight and that they have decided to refer their petition to the international Court of Arbitration for Sport.
According to Tokyo Sexwale, chairman of the FIFA Monitoring Committee Israel-Palestine, the Palestinians are basing their argument on a technical pretext: The request to disqualify Israel from the organization was supposed to have been rejected by a special majority of 75%, and not by a simple majority.
The Palestinian insistence on pushing forward their agenda despite FIFA’s decision apparently provoked much anger among the organisation’s top echelon, who had a harsh message for the head of the Palestinian Football Association Jibril Rajoub: “We are determined to reject your request again, even with an absolute majority.”
Meanwhile, FIFA President Gianni Infantino sent UN Secretary-General António Guterres a letter saying that FIFA is tired of dealing with political issues. “We are not a playground for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” Infinino said.
