Erdan: Suspend Rajoub from International Olympic Committee
Strategic Affairs Minister calls on IOC to suspend PA official Jibril Rajoub who has already been suspended by FIFA.
Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan (Likud) on Tuesday urged the
International Olympic Committee (IOC) to suspend Palestinian Olympic
Committee chairman Jibril Rajoub.
In a letter to IOC President Thomas Bach, Erdan pointed out that Rajoub
had previously been suspended for a year from soccer body FIFA for
inciting hatred and violence, after he called on soccer fans to target
the Argentinian Soccer Association and burn jerseys and pictures of
Lionel Messi when he was scheduled to play a friendly game in Israel.
"Rajoub called on soccer fans to burn shirts and posters of soccer
player Lionel Messi - just because he expressed a desire to play in
Israel," the minister wrote in his letter.
"In professional international organizations, there should be no place
for someone who supports terrorism and violence and makes threats and
intimidation. Rajoub's behavior goes against all the values of Olympic
sports, and therefore the Olympic Committee must prove that it is a
professional international sports body that operates for practical
reasons and is not a political body,” Erdan added.
The letter was sent ahead of a meeting of the International Olympic Committee in Buenos Aires.
After his suspension from FIFA was announced, Rajoub blamed Israel,
claiming the suspension was caused by “unilateral media reports in
addition to misinformation from right-wing organizations in Israel.”
He later announced he would appeal the suspension, which he blasted as biased and “absurd.”
Rajoub, along with several anti-Israel organizations, has in the past
attempted to force FIFA to ban six Israeli teams based in Judea and
Samaria. He claims that their presence there is in breach of FIFA
statutes, which forbids another member association playing on another
territory without permission.
Last October, FIFA President Gianni Infantino announced his organization
would not intervene in the issue and that it considers the matter
closed.
Rajoub later accused FIFA of caving to Israeli pressure, saying
Infantino “did not deal appropriately” with his complaints against
Israel.
He has in the past said that Jews deserved the genocide inflicted on
them by the Nazis. Prior to that he declared that if the PA had a
nuclear bomb, it would use it against Israel.
Earlier this year, Rajoub was filmed as he verbally confronted Border
Police officers at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hevron, telling one of
them to "shut up, go to hell."
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