Palestinian FA boss blasts Infantino's failed FIFA Congress handshake debacle 'absurd'

The 76th FIFA Congress, held in Vancouver, Canada, on Thursday, took an extremely awkward turn courtesy of president Gianni Infantino as he attempted to get Israel FA Vice-President Basim Sheikh Suliman and Palestinian FA President Jibril Rajoub to shake hands on stage in front of a crowd of delegates.

However, despite two minutes of pleading from Infantino, Rajoub refused to get within a few meters of Suliman.

Rajoub ultimately left the stage amidst a backdrop of deafening silence from the crowd, with Infantino having failed in his desired role as peacemaker, looking to coerce the two into what he likely saw as an opportunity to create a photograph for the ages, symbolizing peace and the easing of tensions.

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Infantino went on to say, “Thank you very much to both representatives. These are, of course, as we know, very complex matters. But we never give up on any challenge, and we will continue on this as well because all of the children from Palestine and from Israel deserve the same hope in the future.”

It was later revealed to Reuters by Palestinian FA Vice-President Susan Shalabi that Rajoub had told Infantino on stage, “I cannot shake the hand of someone the Israelis have brought to whitewash their fascism and genocide. We are suffering.”

It is worth noting that Israel has repeatedly and vehemently denied committing genocide within the city of Gaza.

Following the conclusion of the Congress, Shalabi did not hold back as it pertained to Infantino’s actions, saying, “To be put in a position where to have a handshake after everything that was said, this negates the whole purpose of the speech that the general (Rajoub) was giving.

“He spent like 15 minutes trying to explain to everyone how the rules matter, how this could easily become a precedent where the rights of member associations are violated with impudence, and then we'll just wrap this under the carpet. It was absurd.”

During his speech, Rajoub again highlighted the PFA’s stance that Israel should not base teams within the West Bank. This came mere days after the PFA submitted an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, challenging FIFA’s call to not hand down sanctions to Israel regarding the locations of such clubs.

Shalbi told Reuters, “The (FIFA) council decided after 15 years of deliberations on this issue not to decide. So the only course of action that we have is to go to CAS and to appeal that. We will go through the whole process until we are able to achieve justice.”

As for Rajoub, he said on Thursday, “From my side, I still respect and follow the legal procedure, but I think it’s time to understand that Israel should be sanctioned. The double-standard policy should stop.

“I refused to shake hands. Sport is sport… ‌for ⁠me that should be respected, but if the other side is representing a criminal like Bibi (Benjamin Netanyahu) and speaking on behalf of Bibi as if Bibi is Mother Teresa, how can I shake hands or have a photo with such a man?

“I think Gianni has the right to try to bridge gaps and bring people together, but I think maybe he does not understand or does not know the deep suffering of the Palestinian people.”