“Not even Nazism” targeted sports and sportsmen, but Israel has a “systematic policy… to eradicate Palestinian sports”

“[Deputy Secretary of the Fatah Central Committee, Head of the Supreme Council for Sport and Youth Affairs, and] President of the Palestinian Football Association Jibril Rajoub condemned the fact that a military force armed with weapons of the Israeli occupation army had raided the Association’s headquarters in Al-Ram, searched it and humiliated its workers. During a press conference at the Association’s headquarters immediately after the raid, Rajou b said that… the raid on the Association’s headquarters was an open confirmation and proof of Israel’s systematic policy, which aims to eradicate Palestinian sports and destroy all means for its spread and development through its daily crimes against sportsmen in Palestine. He added: ‘[No such thing] has ever occurred in human history, not even in Hitler’s time. Not even Nazism, which everyone spurns, ever interfered and attacked sports and sportsmen, as is being done to the Palestinians.’”

Note: An Israeli army spokesperson explained that Palestinians who had been arrested outside the building in which the Palestinian Football Association is located claimed their personal papers were inside the office. The Israeli soldiers entered in order to retrieve the papers, and the search was not directed at the Palestinian Football Association. (http://sports.walla.co.il/item/2805124)