Fatah spokesman: FIFA decision regarding Israeli teams is a “scandal”
Headline: “Al-Qidwa: Israel’s demand for disarmament is unacceptable and unrealistic”
“Official Fatah Spokesman and [Fatah] Commissioner of Information, Culture, and Ideology Nasser Al-Qidwa reviewed the Israeli policy and the Israeli steps of escalation towards the members of our people… during a press conference that he convened yesterday [Nov. 7, 2017]… Al-Qidwa described the FIFA council decision regarding the [football] clubs in the Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land as a scandal greater than all of FIFA’s previous scandals… He noted that the goal of the words used and their meanings was to change the legal status of the occupied land. He called to struggle against this in cooperation with the national and international [football] associations and with the FIFA leadership bodies, and emphasized that the Israeli moves will fail in the long run, despite several tactical successes."
Al-Qidwa made these comments following the FIFA Council’s announcement on Oct. 27, 2017 that it had decided to reject the Palestinian Football Association's (PFA) request to sanction Israel. Largely due to complaints submitted by Palestinian Media Watch against the PFA for glorifying terror and its president Rajoub for glorifying and inciting terror, for racism and Antisemitism, FIFA was unable to sanction only Israel, but would have had to sanction the PFA and Rajoub as well. FIFA therefore decided to “refrain from imposing any sanctions or other measures on either the Israel FA or the Palestinian FA, as well as from requesting any other FIFA body to do so. The matter is declared closed..." [FIFA Council statement, Oct. 27, 2017]
“Official Fatah Spokesman and [Fatah] Commissioner of Information, Culture, and Ideology Nasser Al-Qidwa reviewed the Israeli policy and the Israeli steps of escalation towards the members of our people… during a press conference that he convened yesterday [Nov. 7, 2017]… Al-Qidwa described the FIFA council decision regarding the [football] clubs in the Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land as a scandal greater than all of FIFA’s previous scandals… He noted that the goal of the words used and their meanings was to change the legal status of the occupied land. He called to struggle against this in cooperation with the national and international [football] associations and with the FIFA leadership bodies, and emphasized that the Israeli moves will fail in the long run, despite several tactical successes."
Al-Qidwa made these comments following the FIFA Council’s announcement on Oct. 27, 2017 that it had decided to reject the Palestinian Football Association's (PFA) request to sanction Israel. Largely due to complaints submitted by Palestinian Media Watch against the PFA for glorifying terror and its president Rajoub for glorifying and inciting terror, for racism and Antisemitism, FIFA was unable to sanction only Israel, but would have had to sanction the PFA and Rajoub as well. FIFA therefore decided to “refrain from imposing any sanctions or other measures on either the Israel FA or the Palestinian FA, as well as from requesting any other FIFA body to do so. The matter is declared closed..." [FIFA Council statement, Oct. 27, 2017]