PA news agency accuses PMW of incitement for exposing Fatah official's terror glorification
Headline: “WAFA monitors racism and incitement in the Israeli media”
“The WAFA [official PA news] agency has monitored incitement and racism against Palestinians and Arabs published in the Israeli media... In report no. 299 of WAFA for the period between Aug. 5 and Aug. 11 2016, the paper Israel Hayom incited on Aug. 5, 2016, in a long article by Nadav Shragai against the Palestinian Olympic delegation and [Palestinian Olympic Committee Chairman] Jibril Rajoub who heads it, and claimed that he is one of ‘the most prominent inciters and supporters of terror and murder.’ (The article referred to PMW’s report The Rajoub File, documenting Rajoub’s support for terror –Ed.)
The article, which called to distance the Palestinians from the Olympics, stated: ‘The Israeli-Palestinian conflict managed to worm its way into the most important sporting event in the world, one that is supposed to be free from politics and certainly from terrorism. Jibril Rajoub -- former head of the Palestinian Preventive Security Force and a contender for the leadership of the Palestinian Authority after President Mahmoud Abbas' time is up, an avowed supporter of terrorism who has incited to murder even during this most recent wave of terrorist violence -- was the man chosen by the Palestinians to head their Olympic committee...
The material on Rajoub, some of which held hope for leaders of Israel's security apparatus in the past, is hardly a state secret. The Rajoub File, which researchers from Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) have spent the last few weeks compiling, was recently placed before Israeli decision-makers… Despite the IOC's general disinclination for international intervention, the body has been involved more than once in decisions of a diplomatic nature, when it believes that doing so would truly contribute to Olympic values. Germany and Austria were kept out of the 1920 Olympics because of their responsibility for World War I; Germany and Japan were excluded from the London Games in 1948 because of their responsibility for World War II. The IOC excluded South Africa from the Olympic movement in 1964, an international contribution to the fight against that country's apartheid regime. However, for years, political pressure kept the IOC from recognizing East Germany or Taiwan as separate sporting entities -- and political pressure has, as we know, led it to recognize the Olympic committees of the Palestinians (and also Kosovo) (sic., no parentheses or “also” in original article), without either of them having been recognized as a state by the U.N.
The Rajoub case is a different matter. This isn't a country, but a person who represents a political-national entity, and he is a classic example of how politics can influence sports. In a sporting world free from politics, a supporter of terrorism like Rajoub would have been tossed out the door long ago. But Rajoub has backing.
… Over the past few years, he has… been backing terrorism… The Arab bloc on the IOC, comprising 46 Muslim countries, gives him a political screen. Rajoub, 63, is effectively unimpeachable. His roles as chairman of the Palestinian Olympic Committee and the Palestinian Football Association have raised his status with the Palestinian public. In the past, he threatened to keep Israel out of the Olympics… Rajoub, who also serves as deputy secretary for the Fatah Central Committee, marked his path in the latest terrorism wave very clearly on the day Israel released the bodies of 17 Palestinian terrorists for burial.’”
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“The WAFA [official PA news] agency has monitored incitement and racism against Palestinians and Arabs published in the Israeli media... In report no. 299 of WAFA for the period between Aug. 5 and Aug. 11 2016, the paper Israel Hayom incited on Aug. 5, 2016, in a long article by Nadav Shragai against the Palestinian Olympic delegation and [Palestinian Olympic Committee Chairman] Jibril Rajoub who heads it, and claimed that he is one of ‘the most prominent inciters and supporters of terror and murder.’ (The article referred to PMW’s report The Rajoub File, documenting Rajoub’s support for terror –Ed.)
The article, which called to distance the Palestinians from the Olympics, stated: ‘The Israeli-Palestinian conflict managed to worm its way into the most important sporting event in the world, one that is supposed to be free from politics and certainly from terrorism. Jibril Rajoub -- former head of the Palestinian Preventive Security Force and a contender for the leadership of the Palestinian Authority after President Mahmoud Abbas' time is up, an avowed supporter of terrorism who has incited to murder even during this most recent wave of terrorist violence -- was the man chosen by the Palestinians to head their Olympic committee...
The material on Rajoub, some of which held hope for leaders of Israel's security apparatus in the past, is hardly a state secret. The Rajoub File, which researchers from Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) have spent the last few weeks compiling, was recently placed before Israeli decision-makers… Despite the IOC's general disinclination for international intervention, the body has been involved more than once in decisions of a diplomatic nature, when it believes that doing so would truly contribute to Olympic values. Germany and Austria were kept out of the 1920 Olympics because of their responsibility for World War I; Germany and Japan were excluded from the London Games in 1948 because of their responsibility for World War II. The IOC excluded South Africa from the Olympic movement in 1964, an international contribution to the fight against that country's apartheid regime. However, for years, political pressure kept the IOC from recognizing East Germany or Taiwan as separate sporting entities -- and political pressure has, as we know, led it to recognize the Olympic committees of the Palestinians (and also Kosovo) (sic., no parentheses or “also” in original article), without either of them having been recognized as a state by the U.N.
The Rajoub case is a different matter. This isn't a country, but a person who represents a political-national entity, and he is a classic example of how politics can influence sports. In a sporting world free from politics, a supporter of terrorism like Rajoub would have been tossed out the door long ago. But Rajoub has backing.
… Over the past few years, he has… been backing terrorism… The Arab bloc on the IOC, comprising 46 Muslim countries, gives him a political screen. Rajoub, 63, is effectively unimpeachable. His roles as chairman of the Palestinian Olympic Committee and the Palestinian Football Association have raised his status with the Palestinian public. In the past, he threatened to keep Israel out of the Olympics… Rajoub, who also serves as deputy secretary for the Fatah Central Committee, marked his path in the latest terrorism wave very clearly on the day Israel released the bodies of 17 Palestinian terrorists for burial.’”
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