By Issam Khalidi

As soon as FIFA President Gianni Infantino rejected the calls for an immediate vote for expelling Israel from the global football governing body, one could predict that nothing positive would come from the FIFA Council’s meeting.

FIFA postponed the meeting until after the Paris Olympics. Then moved it back following establishing a deadline of August 31 for both sides – Israeli and Palestinian – to submit additional documentation to FIFA.

This came after the Palestine Football Association (PFA)  submitted a draft to the FIFA Congress in Bangkok on May 17.

The draft called for Israel to be held responsible for Palestinian sports rights violations.

In early July, Jibril Rajoub, the president of the Palestine Football Association, made the following statement on the website of the Palestine Football Federation:

“We have sent a draft resolution to the FIFA Congress on behalf of Palestinian sports to hold Israel accountable for its violations of Palestinian sports since October 7, 2023. For 15 years we have consistently raised the same concerns with FIFA, only to see them repeatedly deferred from one Congress to another, from one committee to the next. Now, as our football faces the same existential threat as our Palestinian people, FIFA must make a choice either to passively stand by, or uphold its core values and human rights obligations, and stand firmly on the right side of history.”

The head of the PFA legal team Katarina Pijetlovic said: “FIFA can choose either to follow its Statutes and Human Rights Policy commitments or sacrifice its statutory provisions and objectives to continue shielding Israel from liability. Referring this process to committees and task forces would be a futile exercise intended to, yet again, delay the solution to the long-standing issue. Any other decision but immediate suspension would set an extremely dangerous precedent.”

In a report to FIFA submitted by FairSquare, a human rights organization, argued that it has “multiple grounds to suspend or expel the IFA”, highlighting among others “the holding of matches in occupied Palestinian territory, serious and systematic racial discrimination, political interference, and Israel’s killing of Palestinian players and the systematic destruction of PFA facilities – most of which predate Israel’s attacks in Gaza since the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023.”

The fact is that FIFA is violating its own statutes.

Article 4.1 of the FIFA Statutes states that discrimination of any kind against a country, private person or group of people on account of race, skin color, ethnic, national or social origin, gender, disability, language, religion, political opinion, or any other opinion, wealth, birth or any other status, sexual orientation or any other reason is strictly prohibited and punishable by suspension or expulsion.

According to articles 72.1 and 2 of the Statutes:

1. Players and teams affiliated with member associations or provisional members of the confederations may not play matches or make sporting contacts with players or teams that are not affiliated with member associations or provisional members of the confederations without the approval of FIFA.
2. Member associations and their clubs may not play on the territory of another member association without the latter’s approval.

Incidentally, on his return from the Paris 2024 Olympics, Rajoub was detained by Israeli forces at the Karama/King Hussein Bridge border crossing with Jordan.

The AFC (Asian Football Confederation) declared that it is shocking how Rajoub has been detained by Israeli forces on the border and called for an “immediate resolution”.

FIFA believes its decision to expel Israel represents a confrontation and challenge against the United States and the Israeli lobby.

Obviously, FIFA is not prepared to face a confrontation like this one.

There is no doubt that FIFA is embarking on an adventure that would bring it headaches or may even shake the ground beneath its feet if it takes this principled decision.

Rather than following principles, it is better to conform to the hypocritical and double-standard Western reality, in which hypocrisy and double standards are the hallmarks.

FIFA and Israel accuse the PFA of using sports for political purposes.

First, sports and politics are indivisible. There has always been a close connection between sports, and the political and social events that occur around them. Sports play a significant role in the public discourse surrounding politics as well.

Second, this claim is derived solely from hypocrisy. Both of them use it when it serves their interests, and criticize the PFA when it uses it in a way that harms their interests.

In fact, FIFA’s insistence that Israel should not be expelled is political in and of itself.

It was the Zionists who were the first to harness all the efforts, which began in the 1920s, to use sports for political and national purposes in the first place.

To hide its true nature, the paramilitary Betar organization (whose fans today chant for the death of Arabs during football matches) posed as a sports organization during the 1920s in an attempt to disguise its true motives.

During the Arab Revolt of 1936, Jewish sports teams maintained a close relationship with the British in order to crush the Revolt.

In addition, several Jewish sports organizations have maintained strong ties with paramilitary Zionist terrorist organizations, such as Hagana, Palmach, Irgun, Lehi, and Stern, among others.

In the Gaza Strip, Israel has destroyed sports infrastructure, including sports fields and sports facilities. More than 300 athletes have been killed. That’s not to mention the destruction of the cultural heritage of the entire sector. It seems that this is a sufficient reason for sanctioning.

Astonishingly, FIFA took strict measures against Russia within a short period without hesitation or procrastination while delaying the PFA request and devising explanations for this delay. FIFA’s unconvincing excuses are sickening, and they undermine the principles enshrined in FIFA’s statutes and reflect hypocrisy in its policy.

The Western media called for a boycott of the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014, claiming that Russia was persecuting gay people at the time.

Russia and Belarus were excluded from participating in the Paris Olympics under the pretext of the war in Ukraine. Only a limited number of individual athletes from both countries are excluded, provided they prove neutral towards the Ukraine war. They also participate under the Olympic banner.

Olympic officials were urged to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from Paris 2024 after they were accused of violating rules for “neutral” competitors.

At the same time, Israel sent a delegation of about 85 athletes to the Olympic Games in Paris. According to reports, the delegation included the Israeli flag bearer who signed the bombs before they were used in the military onslaught on the Gaza Strip.

According to a report by the Associated Press, IOC President Thomas Bach said on March 6 that Israeli teams and individual athletes would be allowed to participate in the Paris Games. “There is no question about this,” Bach said.

Of course, there is no question about this.

This is the logic of double standards that the West applies when it deals with various issues throughout the world. In the past few months, we have seen a strong correlation between hypocrisy and double standards, especially when it comes to the genocide in Gaza.

It is permissible to raise the Ukrainian flag at stadiums, but not the Palestinian flag. The Russians could be punished, but not Israel.

The West’s love for Israel is similar to the love a father has for a spoiled child. With a kiss on the cheek, it allows Israel to do whatever it wants without the fear of punishment or the risk of repercussions.

There is a growing sense of outrage throughout the Middle East and the world, not only because of the genocide in Palestine but also because of the West’s blatant hypocrisy and double standards – not to mention the complicity on the part of most Arab regimes.

Despite bragging to the world that it is a beacon of democracy and human rights, the West was unable to uphold this claim when it came to the relationship with Israel.

This also applies to FIFA. In response to this, there have been widespread doubts about the credibility of Western policy.

The West puts its head in the sand when it comes to Israel, acting like an ostrich while ignoring international law as if it were not there.

It is even more frustrating that it keeps repeating: “No one is above the law.” No one is indeed above the law (Iran, Syria, Yemen, Russia, and many others) except Israel.

As a response to the request for the reconstruction of sporting facilities destroyed by Israeli bombing on the Gaza Strip by the Palestinian Olympic Committee at the time, the International Olympic Committee expressed its sympathy for the many innocent victims of the ongoing conflict in the region and their families.

However, it has not commented on the request. Neither FIFA nor the International Olympic Committee considers Palestine’s occupation, ethnic cleansing, or genocide. Instead, they see it as a war between equals.

Those who support Israel, ignore its brutality, and don’t condemn it when it happens will find that history won’t be kind to them for the simple reason that complicity and silence are evil. They should therefore cease claiming to be advocates of democracy, human rights, equality, and other values associated with humanity.

Enough is enough.

As a result, we are left with disappointment, disrespect, and disgust. Our fury was sparked when we observed how hypocritical the West is and how blindly it supports Israel in pursuing its goals.