Germany signs sports agreement with terror promoting PA official Rajoub
Germany signs sports agreement
with terror promoting PA official Rajoub
- Rajoub on murderers of Israelis: “heroes... a crown on our heads”
- The Palestinian Football Association supervises yearly sporting event named after terrorist Abu Jihad
- Rajoub prohibits joint sports activities between Palestinians and Israelis and called a joint match between Israeli and Palestinian boys “a crime against humanity”
- Germany will pay “all expenses and fees” for expert to join the Palestinian Football Association to help it “advance the football sector”
- German representative in Ramallah is “proud” of agreement
Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik
Last week, the head of the German representation in Ramallah, Peter Beerwerth, signed “the first bilateral cooperation agreement” in sports between the PA and Germany with Jibril Rajoub, the president of the Supreme Council for Sport and Youth Affairs in the Palestinian Authority.
In its recent report The Rajoub File, Palestinian Media Watch documented that Jibril Rajoub is an outspoken supporter of Palestinian terror attacks against Israelis and prohibits peacebuilding sports activities between Palestinians and Israelis. During the latest wave of Palestinian attacks against Israelis, Rajoub congratulated terrorist murderers, telling them that: “You are heroes and we bless you... you are a crown on our heads.” When a friendly football match took place between 11-year-old Israeli and Palestinian boys after the Gaza War in 2014, Rajoub called it a “crime against humanity.”
In addition, the Palestinian Football Association, which will be the beneficiary of a German football expert paid for by Germany, supervises an annual sporting event named after arch-terrorist Abu Jihad. According to the Palestinian Authority’s own documentation, terrorist Abu Jihad was responsible for the murder of 125 people.
The official PA daily reported that the new agreement between Germany and the PA is the result of “meetings between Rajoub and senior officials of the sports sector in Germany,” and that the German Olympic Committee and the German Football Association at these meetings had “demonstrated a willingness to contribute to the development of many sports branches in Palestine.” [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 1, 2017]
Germany’s association and signing of an agreement with terror promoting Rajoub is in stark contrast to German Parliament Members' condemnation of Germany’s possible funding of terror-supporting activities by the PA, specifically the PA’s honoring of terrorists by paying them salaries in prison as PMW has documented.
German MP Volker Beck asked German Foreign Minister in September 2016 how Germany ensures its funding to the PA is not paying for salaries to terrorists, and after seeing a presentation by PMW in 2015, German MP Albert Weiler stated that "it should not be possible for anti-democratic terror organizations to murder Jews or Christians in the name of their religion. We must fight this strongly. And the whole world should be doing it together."
As part of FIFA, the German Football Association is committed to using sports in the spirit of FIFA's mission which states that:
“Football can inspire communities and break down barriers. Football is for all. FIFA believes that everybody has the right to play football free from discrimination or prejudice and we are striving to ensure that this is the case.”
The German Football Association will be assisting the Palestinian Football Association improve its football, while the Palestinian Football Association and its head Rajoub violate FIFA principles. In addition to his terror promotion and glorification of murderers, Rajoub has for example explicitly stated that he would take any Palestinian sportsman who enters in a joint activity with Israelis “off the team”:
"This state [Israel] is a state of bullies. Fascists can learn a lesson from this state. This government -- there is none more brazen in human history... Anyone who joins any joint [sports] activity with the Israelis -- I'll take him off the [Palestinian Football] Association's lists, whether he is a player, coach, judge or, God forbid, a team... Did we act correctly and convince [FIFA's] General Assembly? Yes. Yes, we'll suspend their [Israel's] membership [in FIFA] and this way we'll screw them... I won't allow and won't agree to any joint game between Arabs and Israel." [Official PA TV, July 1, 2013]
The following are longer excerpts of the reports on Germany’s signing the sports agreement with terror supporter Rajoub:
Headline: “Rajoub signs first cooperation agreement in the field of sports with a representative of Germany”
“[Deputy Secretary of the Fatah Central Committee and] President of the Supreme Council for Sport and Youth Affairs and Chairman of the [Palestine] Olympic Committee Jibril Rajoub and Director of the German Representative Office in the State of Palestine Peter Beerwerth today (sic., yesterday), Tuesday [Jan. 31, 2017], signed the first bilateral cooperation agreement between Palestine and Germany in the field of sports.
The signing of the agreement was a result of previous meetings between Rajoub and senior officials of the sports sector in Germany, in which the German Olympic Committee and the German Football Association demonstrated a willingness to contribute to the development of many sports branches in Palestine...
Peter Beerwerth emphasized that this agreement is one of the most important cooperation agreements between Germany and Palestine as friendly countries. He expressed pride over the signing of this agreement.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 1, 2017]
Jibril Rajoub also holds the following positions: Chairman of the Palestinian Football Association, and Chairman of the Palestinian Scout Association (PSA).
Headline: “Palestine signs first sports cooperation agreement with Germany”
"Jibril Rajoub, chairman of the Palestinian Football Association and Peter Beerwerth, Germany’s representative to Palestine Tuesday signed the first bilateral sports cooperation agreement.
The agreement, signed at the Joseph Platter Academy in al-Bireh city, in the central West Bank, comes after a series of meetings held between Rajoub and German sports officials in Germany to examine ways to enhance the sports sector in Palestine.
Rajoub said under the agreement, German sports expert Gert Engels will visit Palestine over the period of two years to assist the association in advancing the football sector. He said the German government will cover all the expenses and fees.
Eagles will focus on the youth. Rajoub described Eagles, 59, as one of the best German sports experts and coaches, who had worked in Japan for 20 years and helped score the highest ranks in Asia.
He said, 'Eagles will be monitoring all administrative, technical and marketing aspects of the management of various competitions, in addition to the new generation of footballers.'
Rajoub said that the Palestinian sports sector has great potentials, which means that Palestine could match at one point European countries.
On the other side, Beerwerth said the signed agreement constitutes one of the most import partnership agreements between Palestine and Germany as countries with friendly ties.
He said, 'We are confident that Palestinian sports will achieve great success in all fields, and when it comes to football in particular.'”
[Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency, (English edition), Jan. 31, 2017]