Palestinian Authority politicization of sports: Don’t compete with Israelis
- Chairman of the Palestinian Football Association Jibril Rajoub:
"Palestinian sports will continue to be a means of struggle" - Official PA TV on boycott of Israel in sports: "This is a very important issue on which our sports message is built"
Chairman of the Palestinian Football Association Jibril Rajoub has reiterated PA policy that sports for the PA is "a means of struggle" against Israel:
"[Chairman of the Palestinian Football Association] Jibril Rajoubemphasized that Palestinian sports ‘will continue to be a means of struggle and a platform to sound the Palestinian people's voice and expose the occupation's (i.e., Israel's) crimes.'"
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 7, 2025]
This comes the following the Palestinian Authority Basketball Federation applauding Jordan's boycott and refusal to compete against Israel's team in the Under-19 World Championship, which Palestinian Media Watch exposed last month.
Right after Jordan's boycott of Israel, official PA TV stressed that "this is a very important issue on which our sports message is built." The Deputy Secretary of the Palestine Olympic Committee exemplified this, explaining that the committee has "submitted an official request to remove Israel from the Olympics":
Palestine Olympic Committee Deputy Secretary Nader Jayousi: "There is a decision by the [Palestine] Olympic Committee to send Palestinian teams everywhere. Regarding institutions, we have approached every institution involved in sports, and there are many like these, the most important of which is the International Olympic Committee. Even before the Olympics in Paris, we submitted an official request to remove Israel from the Olympics. This was a clear and justified appeal. We submitted documents [showing] that Israeli athletes participating in the Olympics wrote posts on social media about killing children in the Gaza Strip, boasting about the murder of children in the Gaza Strip, nothing more is needed (refers to Hamas' Oct. 7 war on Israel; see note below -Ed.)."
Official PA TV host: "I want to talk about the popular international position. There are many athletes who have boycotted forums and world championships due to the participation of [Israeli] players who took part in the annihilation and were soldiers in the annihilation. This is a very important issue on which our sports message is built, that the Arab and international athlete is part of the message and part of the confrontation against the war of annihilation and crimes against the innocent."
Nader Jayousi: "We saw the expression of this yesterday [June 29, 2025]. Yesterday the youth team of sister Jordan refused to play against the Israeli basketball team in the Youth Basketball Cup. This is a phenomenon we see among our brothers from Algeria who on several occasions refused to compete against Israelis."
[Official PA TV, Palestine This Morning, June 30, 2025]
Palestinian Media Watch has documented that Jibril Rajoub who also serves as Fatah Central Committee Secretary, Head of the PLO Supreme Council for Youth and Sports, Chairman of the Palestine Olympic Committee, and Chairman of the Palestinian Scout Association (PSA), as policy prohibits Palestinian-Israeli sports. Ironically, he has also claimed that sports is "a bridge of love and connection with the international community."
PMW has also exposed that Rajoub has justified Hamas' massacre and Oct. 7 war on Israel as "war of defense" and endorsed terror as "self-defense in our lands… through all types of resistance." Rajoub has even called for war, encouraging Hezbollah and Iran to "punish the Israeli enemy":
When PMW complained to FIFA about Rajoub and he was suspended by FIFA for a year, he was furious at PMW and called PMW director "Goebbels of the 21st century":
"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]