Palestinian Media Watch to FIFA: Penalize Palestinian Football Association for terror glorification
Palestinian Media Watch to FIFA:
Penalize Palestinian Football Association
for grave violations of FIFA regulations
Violations documented in the PMW complaint warrant penalties
of suspension, expulsion, and minimum fines of 20,000 Swiss Francs
by Itamar Marcus and Maurice Hirsch
Palestinian Media Watchhas submitted an official complaint to the Disciplinary Committee of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) calling to penalize the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) and its president, Jibril Rajoub, for violating FIFA's Statutes. PMW wrote:
"The Disciplinary Committee is requested to open proceedings against the PFA and Mr. Rajoub, and, where found necessary, implement disciplinary action without delay, including:
- For breaching Article 4 of the FIFA Statute - suspension or expulsion.
- For breaching Article 53 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code - a match suspension for no less than twelve months and a minimum fine of CHF 20,000.
- For breaching Article 58 of the FIFA Disciplinary code - a match suspension for at least five matches and a minimum fine of CHF 30,000.
- For breaching Article 3 of the FIFA Statutes penalties are not prescribed, but in accordance with Article 11 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code, it is reasonable to assume that the penalty would be a ban on taking part in any football-related activity for an extended period of time.
In the cover letter sent to Mr. Claudio Sulser, Chairman of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee and to Mr. Gianni Infantino, President of FIFA, PMW noted:
"The PFA and Mr. Rajoub regularly and gravely breach the FIFA Statutes by promoting and glorifying terrorism; inciting hatred and violence; promoting racism; and preventing the use of the game of football in order to build a bridge for peace."
Copies of all the Arabic language evidence supporting PMW's complaint were sent as well.
Among the evidence is documentation that every year PFA supervises the annual "Prince of Martyrs Abu Jihad Football Tournament," named after the arch-terrorist Abu Jihad. By the Palestinian Authority's own calculations, Abu Jihad was responsible for the murder of 125 people in numerous terror attacks he planned, which include a 1978 bus hijacking in which 25 adults and 12 children were murdered.
PMW also included in the complaint evidence of Rajoub calling terrorists "heroes" and "a crown on the head of every Palestinian" and encouraging the kidnap and murder of Israelis
PMW now waits for the FIFA committee to respond with a date for an official hearing at which PMW can present its evidence against the PFA and Jibril Rajoub, in accordance with the procedures set forth in the FIFA Disciplinary Code.
Click here to view the full complaint.
Click here to view video documentation of Jibril Rajoub's terror promotion.
PMW is calling on all those who agree that the time has arrived to "Kick Terrorism Out Of Football" to send a personal complaint to the FIFA Disciplinary Committee.
If you are interested in joining the initiative, PMW invites you to copy and paste the complaint into an email and send to FIFA President Gianni Infantino at [email protected] and to FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura at [email protected] and ask them to send it to Claudio Sulser, Chairman of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee.