PLO expresses "deep regret and condemnations" that Morocco and the UAE held friendly sports matches with Israel, comparing Israel to a "Nazi occupation"

Headline: “A statement from the [PLO] Supreme Council for Youth and Sports”

“The [PLO] Supreme Council for Youth and Sports issued a statement regarding the decision by teams from Morocco and the [United Arab] Emirates (UAE) to hold friendly matches with Israeli teams in the occupation state.

The statement reads:

‘The Supreme Council for Youth and Sports expresses its deep regret and condemnations of the decision by teams from Morocco and the UAE to hold friendly matches with Israeli teams in the occupation state and to host these teams on their lands. We view this as an insult to our people’s struggle and the sacrifices it has made, and a belittling of the sensibilities of millions of Arabs, Muslims, and people who identify with the cause of justice and human rights in the world.

We remind our brothers, who made a decision that is a serious and deep stab in the heart of every free Arab, that with this act they are rewarding one of the most despicable kinds of occupation for its crimes against a defenseless people, a people that stands alone and on behalf of all the Arabs in defense of the Arabness of their holy sites. We call on them not to fall into the trap of a Nazi occupation,which is shaking their hands with a hand covered in the blood of Palestine’s children.

Out of respect for states’ freedom to choose their relations, we have preferred not to speak about the rapprochement between some of the [Arab] brothers and those who murder our children and defile our sites that are holy to Islam and Christianity, but signing cooperative agreements in the fields of youth and sports and holding meetings under the headline of ‘peace’ with the occupation that is systematically eliminating any chance for peace is something that we cannot tolerate and cannot let pass in silence…

We call on those responsible for these agreements to honor the decisions of the Council of Arab Ministers for Youth and Sports and the decisions of the Arab League regarding normalization in sports with the occupation state.’”