The Palestinian Authority is attempting to have Israel booted from a prestigious international soccer federation on largely dubious claims.
In its coverage of the matter, major U.S. news media outlets have repeatedly quoted Jibril Rajoub, the chairman of the Palestinian Football Association, who has been leading the anti-Israel soccer campaign.
Yet not a single major news media outlet surveyed by WND mentioned that Rajoub is a notorious terrorist convicted of multiple terrorism charges.
On Monday, CNN.com ran a story titled "Israel cries foul over FIFA suspension talk."
Reporting from Jerusalem, CNN's Oren Liebermann cites the Palestinians' main grievances in their campaign to get Israel expelled from the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, or FIFA. Such a move could have a dramatic impact on Israel’s ability to compete in international soccer.
The PA’s main complaint is that Israel does not allow freedom of movement for Palestinian soccer players from the West Bank to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip through Israel.
The Israeli government says it would be a security risk to allow any Palestinian soccer player to travel freely from the West Bank or Gaza within Israel, explaining terrorists could easily take advantage of any such accommodation.
CNN's Liebermann helpfully cites Israel Football Association CEO Rotem Kemer explaining that 95 percent of all travel requests for Palestinian players were approved by Israel in 2015.
The PA, however, further wants FIFA to suspend five Israeli soccer clubs located in Jewish settlements in the West Bank, which the Palestinians claim for a future state. The five clubs play in the third and fourth FIFA divisions.
Liebermann quotes Rajoub declaring the Palestinian plight in the West Bank is far worse than apartheid under the South African regime, claiming extremists in Israel want to "delete Palestine."
"They keep bullying here and there, and I think they have no right to keep being the bully of the neighborhood," Rajoub continued in his CNN interview. "If the Israelis are using the issue of security, I can say that their security concern is mine. I am ready to fix parameters for security concerns, but security should not be used ... as a tool in order to keep this racist, apartheid policies."
Another article quoting Rajoub was released by the Associated Press and published by such major outlets as the New York Daily News.
The AP zeroed in on Rajoub, who was largely the subject of the article, titled "Head of Palestine Football Association pushing to have Israel removed from FIFA."
The AP article quoted Rajoub saying he “will not withdraw the motion (to expel Israel from FIFA) and will not accept any compromise and any side deals.”
Like CNN, the AP piece did not even allude to Rajoub's terrorist background.
Also ignoring his well-known violent background were articles in the past few days by Reuters and Yahoo! Sports.
Terrorist presses to boot Israel's soccer team
Rajoub is a former top aide to the late PLO leader Yasser Arafat and the past leader of several major Palestinian militias. Rajoub has been the point man between the PA and FIFA.
In 1970, Rajoub was sentenced by Israel to life in prison after he was arrested and convicted of throwing a grenade at an Israeli army bus near Hebron. Part of his conviction was because of his membership in a Fatah-associated terrorist organization.
He was released from incarceration in 1985 as part of a prisoner exchange with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which had kidnapped three Israelis.
Less than two years after his release, Rajoub was arrested and convicted two more times on terrorism-related charges, including membership in Fatah terrorist cells and planning attacks.
He was deported to Lebanon in 1998, where he quickly became a top adviser to Fatah deputy leader Khalil al-Wazir, who at the time was coordinating an anti-Israel intifada.
After Wazir’s death, Rajoub became a close associate and adviser to Arafat. Rajoub returned with Arafat to the West Bank after the signing of the 1994 Oslo Accords, which established cantons of territory to be governed by Arafat’s PLO.
Rajoub became head of Arafat’s Preventive Security Force, which was repeatedly implicated in attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers. Many members of the Preventive group doubled as members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Fatah’s so-called military wing.
The brigade is a terrorist organization responsible for scores of suicide bombings, shootings, stabbings and other deadly attacks on Jews.
Aside from his soccer duties, Rajoub heads the Palestine Olympic Committee. In June 2012, he protested a request for a moment of silence to remember the 11 Israeli athletes murdered by Palestinian terrorists during the 1972 Munich Olympics, calling the request “racist.”