Palestine FA boss Jibril Rajoub says FIFA disciplinary ruling merits a full Israeli ban

The Palestinian FA (PFA) has once again called for Israel to be banned from the game. 

Recognising last week’s FIFA disciplinary sanction against Israel as “substantial”, PFA president Jibril Rajoub nevertheless said it didn’t go far enough as a sanction to merit the crime.

“We maintain our right and continue our efforts to ensure that the Israeli Football Association is expelled from all international institutions,” said Rajoub at a news conference.

Rajoub cited the IFA’s “racist nature”, alleged criminal activity by some Israeli sports officials, and the inclusion of football clubs from Israeli West Bank settlements in the Israeli federation as grounds for a ban.

“Some figures within Israeli sports either participated in or openly supported what has been happening,” Rajoub said. He highlighted that 1,007 athletes and coaches were killed in Gaza and 265 sports facilities were damaged since the war started in October 2023.

Last week FIFA slapped Israel with a fine of $190,000 dollars and demanded the Israeli FA (IFA) hang a banner with the words ‘football unites the world – no discrimination’ at its next three home matches.

The sanctions however did not reflect the report issued by FIFA’s disciplinary committee, which assessed the allegations of discrimination raised by the PFA in a damning tone.

The committee wrote: “The IFA’s conduct has brought football into disrepute, both domestically and internationally, and has damaged public trust in the sport’s ability to serve as a force for peace and inclusion.”

It also singled out the Beitar Jerusalem case and wrote that the IFA “failed to take meaningful action against Beitar Jerusalem FC – a club whose supporters have engaged in persistent and well-documented racist behaviour” and sent “a message of institutional tolerance rather than deterrence.”

FIFA’s disciplinary committee also wrote that “a pattern of systemic exclusion of Palestinians from football stadiums and facilities located in Israeli settlements in the West Bank… These areas are subject to a regime of movement restrictions that disproportionately and discriminatorily affect Palestinians.”

Last week, FIFA also announced that no action would be taken against the IFA over Israeli clubs based in the occupied West Bank. At least five football clubs based in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are members of IFA.

In a statement, the world federation said: “FIFA should take no action given that, in the context of the interpretation of the relevant provisions of the FIFA Statutes, the final legal status of the West Bank remains an unresolved and highly complex matter under public international law.”

FIFA recognises the West Bank as part of Palestine as does its status under the Oslo Accords that were agreed in the mid-1990s to bring peace to the region. FIFA now appears to be stepping away from its own statutes and inflaming and involving itself in a deeper, non-football political process, that uses the soft geo-politics of the game to support Israel’s claims over the territory.