FIFA boss rigs vote for Israel at last minute

Electronic Intifada reported:

There were dramatic scenes at the FIFA Congress in Bahrain on May 11 as delegates prepared to vote on a motion on Palestinian rights violated by Israel.

At the last moment, FIFA boss Gianni Infantino intervened over objections from the Palestinian Football Association to replace the motion with a proposal to yet again delay action for almost another year.

The Palestinian Football Association has denounced the move as illegal.

Infantino’s heavy-handed move followed a personal phone call in recent days from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Earlier this week, the FIFA Council, the executive body of the world football organization, had already capitulated to Israeli pressure and ruled out a vote sanctioning Israel for allowing its league to include teams based in West Bank settlements.

All of Israel’s settlements in the occupied West Bank are illegal under international law.

Moving goal posts

But there remained on the agenda a motion calling for “official recognition of the Palestinian Football Association’s entitlements to all of its rights as described in the FIFA Statutes.”

FIFA rules bar national associations from holding matches on the territory of another member without permission – as Israel does in the West Bank without Palestinian permission – so this motion would still have highlighted the Israel Football Association’s complicity in the military occupation of the West Bank.

The heads of the Palestinian and Israeli football associations made speeches for and against the motion. Jibril Rajoub, the head of the Palestinian Football Association, at one point held up a photo he said showed Israeli soldiers preventing Palestinians from playing.