International Olympic Committee must cancel funding of anti-Semitic Palestinian Olympic Committee
22 September 2022
Mr. Thomas Bach, President
International Olympics Committee
P.O. Box 356,
1007 LAUSANNE,
SWITZERLAND
Dear Mr. Bach,
Re: IOC support for the Palestine Olympic Committee
We the undersigned were shocked and disappointed to read that you have met with the chairman of the Palestinian Olympic Committee Jibril Rajoub and offered to increase financial support to the Palestinian Olympic Committee. In normal circumstances, we would, of course, have no reservation about the desire to promote Palestinian sports as a means to further and realize the noble Olympic goals and values. However, these are not normal circumstances. At the head of the Palestine Olympic Committee stands Jibril Rajoub. If you would know who Jibril Rajoub is, and the values that he represents, we are confident you would not have made this error in judgment and not have agreed that the IOC participate and fund outright racism that undermines and rejects the most basic of Olympic values.
Jibril Rajoub is an anti-semite who violates the most important humanistic values, including values that are particularly important for you as a German, in addition to violating the principles of the International Olympic Committee.
Comparing Israeli behavior to Nazism is one of the examples in the IHRA definition of “Antisemitism” which has been adopted by countries across Europe including Germany. German Chancellor Scholz recently said he was “disgusted” by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ libel that Israel committed “50 holocausts” which he called “outrageous… intolerable and unacceptable.”
Similar to Abbas, Jibril Rajoub constantly compares Israel and its actions to the Nazis and their actions. Inter alia, Rajoub has said in his various public speeches that Israel's “prisons are an identical copy of Auschwitz and the death camps”; "Auschwitz is here in every city in Palestine”; Israelis are “the ugly face of Nazism, which is this Zionism”; “new Nazis”; “model of the fascist and Nazi thinking”; “Nazi state terror”; "What is happening in Palestine is a second Holocaust”.
Regarding Israeli leaders Rajoub continues: “Netanyahu, the ugly face of Mussolini and Hitler” “Mussolini was a kindergarten compared to Netanyahu,” and even libeled our organization: “Palestinian Media Watch, whose director is Goebbels.” (All full quotes follow below.)
In addition, as a fundamental policy, the Palestine Olympic Committee under Rajoub, rejects the Olympic Committee Charter and Code of Ethics by both prohibiting Palestinians from participating in sports with Israelis and condemning Arab states that do participate in sports with Israel.
In furtherance of this policy, Rajoub even praised Algerian judoka Fethi Nourine for withdrawing from the Olympic competition in 2021 rather than face an Israeli: “There is no place for meeting with anyone who is connected to this official terror (i.e., Israel), not in sports and not outside of sports. I hope that this will be a message to all the Arabs who are normalizing and those who are rushing [towards normalizing sports with Israel].”
On both of these subjects, Palestinian Media Watch submitted official complaints to the IOC that are still pending. The complaints can be accessed here and here.
The statements that follow are just a handful of statements made by Rajoub in which he displayed his blatant racism, constantly comparing Israel to the Nazis and the actions of the Nazis, most specifically the creation of death camps such as Auschwitz, to the actions of Israel. In fact, Rajoub even preempted PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in making the claim, that “disgusted” German Chancellor Scholz, that Israel is committing a “Holocaust” against the Palestinians.
Needless to say, this claim, as PMW conclusively proved, is entirely baseless. While in the Holocaust the Jews of Europe were decimated, under Israel, the Palestinian population has consistently grown, some would even argue, at an unusually high rate.
The statements of Rajoub included herein, that reflect his outright racism and his rejection of IOC goals, are nothing new. Rather they are part of his decade-long abuse of Palestinian sports. During his crusade, Rajoub has even used sports, used the Olympics, as a means to promote hatred and as a means to incite violence and terror. Rajoub’s history of promoting hatred, violence and terror, can be found in this PMW report.
Additional examples of Rajoub’s promotion and support for terror, his collaboration with internationally designated terror organizations, his glorification of terrorists and his rejection of Israel’s right to exist, can be found, inter alia, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
As the world and the IOC mark 50 years since Palestinian terrorists murdered 11 Israeli athletes in the Munich Olympics, it would not only be a mistake, but rather a disgrace, for the IOC to now fund one of the foremost Palestinian vehicles that promote the hatred of Jews, racism, and violence.
Since our goal is not to damage the development of Palestinian sport, but rather to root out hatred and racism, we call on you to immediately announce the freezing of the IOC support to the Palestinian Olympic Committee, until Rajoub is permanently removed from his position as the Chairman of the Palestinian Olympic Committee. By doing so, the IOC would give the Palestinian Olympic Committee the opportunity to choose development and prosperity, accepting an embracing the IOC goals and values, or to choose hatred and racism, rejecting the IOC goals and values.
The following are some examples of Rajoub’s anti-semitic comments comparing Israel to the Nazis:
Israel is a “fascist,” “racist” country equivalent to the Nazis
Instead of celebrating the opening of the 2022 Palestine Marathon, Rajoub chose to label Israel as “fascist,” “racist” and compared Zionism to Nazism:
Chairman of the Palestinian Olympic Committee and Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub: “We are conveying a message to the world: The time has come to confront this fascist racist occupation… The international legitimacy is one, and it must be implemented against the ugly face of Nazism, which is this Zionism and this racist fascist occupation...
The time has come for the new Nazis who are working to eliminate the Palestinian people to leave or to be confronted.”
[Facebook page of Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub, March 18, 2022]
He made a similar comment in January 2022:
Chairman of the Palestinian Olympic Committee and Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub: “Today this fascist [Israeli] government, which is the new Nazis, is the living and recognizable model of the fascist and Nazi thinking.”
[Facebook page of Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub, Jan. 2, 2022]
In October 2020, talking on a Lebanese TV station, Rajoub had made the same accusation:
Chairman of the Palestinian Olympic Committee and Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub:“Is this not Israel, this fascist and racist regime? Mussolini was a kindergarten compared to Netanyahu and the right-wing that rules in Israel – a kindergarten!”
[Facebook page of Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub, and Al-Mayadeen (Lebanon), Oct. 7, 2020]
Previously, Rajoub had made a similar accusation adding that Israel’s alleged actions “would have shamed even the Nazis”:
Chairman of the Palestinian Olympic Committee and Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub: “This is a fascist and racist occupation, and what is happening in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem is a model that would have shamed even the Nazis.”
[Official PA TV, State of Politics, Sept. 21, 2017]
In May 2021, terrorists from the internationally designated terror organization Hamas, and Palestinian terrorists, fired over a thousand missiles from Gaza indiscriminately trying to murder Jews. Ignoring Israel’s right to self-defense and denying Jews (similar to the Holocaust) the right to defend themselves against the homicidal barrage, Rajoub chose again to compare Israel’s actions to those of the Nazis:
Chairman of the Palestinian Olympic Committee and Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub: “This situation requires we [Fatah] take a position and also the international community, which understands the scope of the fascist and Nazi state terror that is being carried out against the Palestinians… We are convinced that the conflict [with Israel] has reached the stage that either the world will give us a solution or we will continue the cycle of blood and killing…
We [Fatah] are the ones who brought about the outbreak of the revolution – us, us, us! … We hope that the international community will pick up on the [emotional] turmoil and the feeling of bitterness that exists among all the Palestinians, who have begun to defy death and prefer death over a life of humiliation, suffering, and hardships under the rule of the neo-Nazis…”
[Facebook page of the Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, May 20, 2021]
In January 2021, while paying lip service to the severity of the Holocaust, Rajoub chose to compare then Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Mussolini, to outrageously claim that Israel has “exploited” the Holocaust and, similarly to Abbas, to accuse Israel of committing an additional Holocaust:
Chairman of the Palestinian Olympic Committee and Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub: “[After Trump’s election,] the American administration [was] cooperating with the path of the fascist right-wing that is being led by Netanyahu, the ugly face of Mussolini and Hitler… [The Israelis] have exploited the issue of the Holocaust… They were slaughtered in Europe. It was a despicable massacre, and we all oppose it and do not accept it, but we did not do it! Neither we as Arabs nor we as Muslims. What is happening in Palestine is a second holocaust.”
[Facebook page of Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub, Jan. 20, 2021]
While the world was celebrating the signing of the historical Abraham Accords, ushering in a new peace between Israel and many of its Arab neighbors, Rajoub was busy belittling the brave Arab leaders and again comparing Netanyahu to Mussolini:
Chairman of the Palestinian Olympic Committee and Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub: “At this circus [signing of peace treaties at the White House], I think the swamps have dried up and these worms (i.e., UAE and Bahrain leaders) have become exposed to the sun. Who would have believed that an Arab leader would stand like a dwarf facing [Israeli Prime Minister] Netanyahu and not mention Jerusalem? … I think that even their speeches were written for them at the White House, and certainly in Tel Aviv of course…This is a ridiculous, stupid, and cheap comedy… What happened is [the result of] dictates from the current fascist administration, and this racist whose name is Netanyahu who is a distorted copy of Mussolini, and of everything that happened in the 1930s and 1940s in Europe.”
[Official PA TV, Sept. 15, 2020]
Rajoub’s comparisons of Israelis to Nazi’s did not end with the Israeli leaders. After a PMW complaint caused FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee to suspended Rajoub for a year from participating in football events and imposed a heavy fine, Rajoub lashed out at PMW’s director comparing him to Nazi propagandist Goebbels:
Chairman of the Palestinian Olympic Committee and Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub: "They are waging this war on all fronts. There's Palestinian Media Watch, whose director is Goebbels - Goebbels, Hitler's ideological theorist... He is the Goebbels of the 21st century."
[Official PA TV Live, Sept. 3, 2018]
Accusing Israel or copying the Auschwitz and other death camps
On the occasion of the natural death at the age of 86 of the mother of imprisoned terrorist murderer Karim Younes, Rajoub compared Israel's prisons to "Auschwitz and the death camps.”
Chairman of the Palestinian Olympic Committee and Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub: “We hope that [Subhiya Younes’ death] will constitute a message that will awaken the world’s conscience, so that it will come out against the new Nazis who are committing acts of terror officially, and whose prisons are an identical copy of Auschwitz and the death camps.”
[Official PA TV, May 5, 2022]
When referring to the US initiated peace conference in Warsaw, Poland in February 2019, Rajoub belittled the idea of peace, preferring to claim that in every Palestinian city “there is an Israeli Auschwitz to massacre Palestinians."
Al-Hadath TV interviewer: "You've announced that you won't participate [in the Warsaw Conference], and described it as a knife in the back..."
Chairman of the Palestinian Olympic Committee and Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub: "[If] there will be cocktail parties and toasts with [Israeli Prime Minister] Netanyahu and the Arabs we will indeed view it as a mistake and a knife [in the back]... They are welcoming Netanyahu in Warsaw in order to remind us of the Holocaust and Auschwitz. In every city in Palestine, from Rafah to Jenin, there is an Israeli Auschwitz to massacre Palestinians."
[Facebook page of Jibril Rajoub, Feb 10, 2019]
Months later, Rajoub again repeated the outrageous accusation:
Chairman of the Palestinian Olympic Committee and Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub: "Auschwitz is here in every city in Palestine because of [Israel's] systematic policy with barbaric and racist living conditions and conduct in order to cause physical and mental harm to these prisoners."
[Sawt Al-Arab (Kuwaiti TV channel), Diwan's Office, July 8, 2019]
Rajoub rejects IOC goals
In addition to the events described in the complaints submitted by PMW, the following are additional events in which Rajoub displayed his utter contempt for the IOC goals and values.
While sport and the IOC are meant to be a uniting force devoid of petty politics, Rajoub breaches those fundamental principles.
Responding to sporting events in which sportsmen from Arab countries participated in sporting events with Israeli sportsmen, Rajoub illicitly invoked the authority of the Palestinian Olympic Committee to condemn the “normalization”. To add insult to injury, Rajoub did not suffice in his actions to prevent Palestinian sportsmen competing against Israelis, but rather also demanded that the Council of Arab Ministers for Youth and Sports, the Union of Arab [National] Olympic Committees, and the Islamic Solidarity Sports Federation all follow his racist lead:
Headline: “The [Palestine] Olympic Committee expresses deep sorrow over the normalization carried out by some Arab states with the occupation in the field of sports”
“The Palestine Olympic Committee expressed deep sorrow over the normalization carried out by some Arab states with the Israeli occupation in the field of sports.
In a statement published yesterday evening [Nov. 4, 2018] in response to the participation of sports delegations from the occupation state (i.e., Israel) in some Arab sporting events, the [Palestinian] Olympic Committee demanded that the Council of Arab Ministers for Youth and Sports, the Union of Arab [National] Olympic Committees, and the Islamic Solidarity [Sports Federation] fulfill their roles and do that which is entrusted to them regarding this matter against anyone who bypasses the decisions of the Arab and Islamic consensus…”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 5, 2018]
Given all of this evidence, it is clear that Jibril Rajoub does not uphold the values of the Olympics, and his presence in the Olympics is a disgrace not only to the IOC but to all Palestinians. We ask that you immediately announce the freezing of the IOC support to the Palestinian Olympic Committee, until Rajoub is permanently removed from his position as the Chairman of the Palestinian Olympic Committee.
Signed:
Itamar Marcus, Palestinian Media Watch
Alon Meyer, Makkabi Germany
Sacha Stawski, Honestly Concerned, Germany
Josias Terschüren, Christen an der seite Israels, Deutschland
Dr. Elvira Groezinger, SPME, Germany
Jonathan Turner, UK Lawyers for Israel, United Kingdom
Leo Sucarewicz, Demokratie und Information, Germany
I like Israel, Germany
Arsen Ostrovsky, The International Legal Forum
Conrad Myrland, Med Israel for fred (Norway)
Nigel Goodrich, Belgian Friends of Israel