Rajoub: PMW's director is "the Goebbels of the 21st century"

Speech by Fatah Central Committee Secretary and Chairman of the Palestinian Football Association Jibril Rajoub at a press conference on Sept. 3, 2018, on the sanctions FIFA imposed on him

Chairman of the Palestinian Football Association and Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub: "This is a decision [by FIFA] that does an injustice, and it is clearly political. This is an Israeli decision, a decision of the Israeli right-wing, without any deliberation. And we have something that proves it. We respect the FIFA committees and will continue to respect them and to be obligated to their decisions, and therefore we have decided to appeal... This is a decision that arose from the letter of a settler complainant who lives in Kiryat Arba (sic., PMW’s director does not live there) , which was written in a lawyer's office in Jerusalem. It is this letter of his that they are basing [their decision] upon. He submitted a complaint against the Palestinian [Football] Association and against me, [and] of course, also the statements of [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, of [Israeli Minister of Culture and Sport] Miri Regev, and of others in the Israeli government, including death threats, if I continue in this way. He submitted a complaint as a Mother Theresa, this fascist settler, and the FIFA Disciplinary Committee made its decision, announced it just a few days ago, and we read about it by chance after it was posted on the FIFA website. In other words, they did not update us...
First of all, they are waging this war on all fronts. There's Palestinian Media Watch, whose director [Itamar Marcus] is Goebbels - Goebbels, Hitler's ideological theorist... He is the Goebbels of the 21st century. He prepared an indictment against me, believe me, [starting] from 1968 when I went into [an Israeli] prison the first time, until today. I traveled to Latin America, and every place I go, believe me, he spreads these accusations. He submitted a complaint to the Olympic Committee (to remove Rajoub from heading the Palestinian committee - Ed.), he submitted a complaint to FIFA (to have Rajoub suspended and fined - Ed.), and when I traveled to the US - he also spread [his accusations] in the US (submitting a complaint to the State Department to have Rajoub's entry prohibited- Ed.). The only thing he does is to deal with me."
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PMW has submitted the following complaints against Rajoub:
1- A complaint to the International Olympic Committee to have Rajoub removed as head of the Palestinian Olympic Committee;
2- A complaint to FIFA to have Rajoub expelled and fined;
3- A complaint to the US State Department to have Rajoub's entry into the US prohibited;
4- A complaint to the Israel Police to have Rajoub arrested and investigated for incitement to murder.

FIFA suspended Jibril Rajoub, Chairman of the Palestinian Football Association, from attending games for 12 months on Aug. 24, 2018 and fined him 20,000 Swiss francs. This followed complaints by PMW and the Israel Football Association after Rajoub's actions to prevent a football friendly match between Argentina and Israel in Jerusalem in June 2018. Rajoub called to target the Argentinian Football Association and burn jerseys and pictures of Lionel Messi, which caused Argentina to cancel the match. FIFA ruled that Rajoub violated article 53 (Inciting hatred and violence) of the FIFA Disciplinary Code.

Jibril Rajoub holds the following positions: Head of the PLO Supreme Council for Sport and Youth Affairs, Chairman of the Palestine Olympic Committee, and Chairman of the Palestinian Scout Association (PSA).