Palestinian Soccer Boss Suspended For Campaign Against Superstar Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi of Argentina stretches before an international friendly match between Argentina and Haiti at Alberto J. Armando Stadium on May 29, 2018 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Image by Getty Images
The head of the Palestinian Football Association, Jibril Rajoub, was banned from all soccer-related activity for a year by FIFA on Friday on charges of inciting hatred and violence before a friendly planned between Israel and Argentina.
Rajoub protested after Israel switched the venue of the June game from Haifa to Jerusalem. He urged Palestinians to burn shirts bearing the name of Lionel Messi if Argentina’s star went ahead and played there.
The change of venue came at a particularly sensitive time, after U.S. President Donald Trump had recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, infuriating Palestinians who want the eastern part of the city as the capital of their own future state.
Global soccer body FIFA said on Friday its disciplinary committee considered that Rajoub’s statements “incited hatred and violence.” It banned him for 12 months and fined him $20,000.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Dive In
-
Fast Forward Judge dismisses lawsuit against Zionist Organization of America leader Mort Klein
-
Fast Forward US reaches truce with Houthis hours after Israel bombs their airport in Yemen
-
Fast Forward Trump says only 21 hostages remain alive in Gaza: ‘3 have died’
-
Fast Forward Explainer: What the Israeli occupation of Gaza would mean for Israelis and Palestinians
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Why the Antisemitism Awareness Act now has a religious liberty clause to protect ‘Jews killed Jesus’ statements
- 2
News School Israel trip turns ‘terrifying’ for LA students attacked by Israeli teens
- 3
Culture Cardinals are Catholic, not Jewish — so why do they all wear yarmulkes?
- 4
Music After decades of waiting, we’re finally getting a Bob Dylan-Barbra Streisand duet
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture Is ‘Andor’ about Jews, Palestinians — or both and/or neither?
-
Fast Forward Judge dismisses lawsuit against Zionist Organization of America leader Mort Klein
-
Fast Forward US reaches truce with Houthis hours after Israel bombs their airport in Yemen
-
Fast Forward Trump says only 21 hostages remain alive in Gaza: ‘3 have died’
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.