VANCOUVER: Palestinian football federation president Jibril Rajoub refused to take part in a photo session with Israeli football official Basim Sheikh Suliman in a tense incident at the end of the FIFA Congress on Thursday.
After Rajoub and Suliman addressed the delegates, FIFA President Gianni Infantino invited the two to remain with him.
However, Rajoub rejected the gesture, rejecting Infantino’s repeated attempts to encourage him to participate in the moment.
At one point Rajoub was heard saying: “We are suffering.”
The Palestinian Football Association recently appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) over FIFA’s refusal to sanction Israel over West Bank-based football clubs.
The PFA maintains that clubs based in West Bank settlements should not be allowed to compete in leagues controlled by Israeli football authorities.
In 2024, United Nations experts stated that at least eight football clubs had been identified as players playing in “Israeli colonial settlements” and called on FIFA to “fulfill its responsibility to respect human rights.”
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Rajoub called on FIFA to “apply the statutes fairly and logically.”
“What is happening in Palestine is terrible: the destruction of all Palestinian sports facilities in Gaza, the murder of hundreds of Palestinian athletes and employees… I think now is the time for justice,” Rajoub said.
“The guy who spoke on behalf of Israel didn’t even pay attention to the suffering, to what’s going on.
“I refused to shake his hand. How can I shake his hand or take a photo with a man like that?”
