Palestinian FA President to Appeal ‘Unfair’ 12-Month FIFA Ban (VIDEO)

September 4, 2018 Blog, News, Videos
Argentina cancelled its match with Israel following BDS pressure. (Photo: File)

The head of the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) has said that he will appeal against his year-long FIFA ban for inciting fans against Argentinian footballer Lionel Messi.

Jibril Rajoub said on Monday that he was prepared to fight the decision by football’s world governing body all the way to the court in The Hague if he has to.

FIFA banned Rajoub from attending matches for a year over his involvement in a campaign to prevent Argentina from playing Israel in a friendly international before the World Cup in June.

Rajoub “incited hatred and violence”, according to FIFA, by calling on “football fans to target the Argentinian Football Association and burn jerseys and pictures of Lionel Messi”.

Argentina canceled the game.

Rajoub told reporters in Ramallah that FIFA’s decision was “unfair” and “politically motivated”.

He said:

“We will go to the appeals court and to the FIFA sports court of appeals and to Swiss and European courts after we have exhausted the legal FIFA system … We will continue efforts to fight injustice against the association … Israel continues to limit our movement and ability to play within the West Bank and Gaza, welcome trainers and experts – Iraq’s team visit and Gaza athletes are recent examples.”

Rajoub has long lobbied FIFA to sanction Israel for its restriction of movement of Palestinian players.

(AJE, PC, Social Media)

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