Red Card Israeli Racism asks Fifa: What have you done recently to stop Israel from bullying Palestine?

Men's Football / 19 December 2018

Kadeem Simmonds

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Red Card Israeli Racism have grown fed up of Fifa’s inaction when it comes to stopping Israel from escalating the harassment of Palestinian football, asking: “What has it done lately?”

The past few weeks has seen a rise in violent raids on Palestinian football premises, which has led to hundreds of prominent figures, sport students and footballers being arrested.

Palestinian football officials have been denied permission to attend AFC and ANOC events, while Indonesian and Maldivian footballers have been denied entry to Palestine to represent their national teams and the Pakistani national team has been delayed until the last minute.

October 10: A raid on Al-Khader Stadium, Bethlehem, during which 100 players, coaches and staff were detained for several hours.
November 1: A raid on Silwan FC during which club manager Muhannad Shalhab and the Governor of Jerusalem were violently arrested, and ambulances prevented from attending to treat the wounded.
November 19/27: The arrest of Islami Qalqilya FC’s media spokesman Mahmoud Qashmar and its administrative director Zaki Daoud.
December 13: A blockade of the Joseph Blatter Football Academy, Al-Bireh, forcing cancellation of the planned inauguration of the academy’s youth refereeing school, during which 120 students and staff were detained for several hours; the simultaneous detention of a group of coaches who were travelling to an AFC course at the Academy
December 13: A raid of the Palestine Olympic Committee headquarters, also in al-Bireh, during a meeting of the POC executive committee. Committee members and staff were violently detained while soldiers wrought havoc in the building.

The November 15 friendly match between Palestine and Pakistan was delayed by a day due to the late arrival of entry visas for the Pakistan team.
A number of Indonesian and Maldivian players were denied entry to Palestine for the AFC Women’s Olympic qualifiers of November 8-13.
PFA deputy vice-president Salah Abu Al-Atta was denied an exit visa to collect an award at the AFC annual awards in Muscat on November 28.
POC vice-president Dr Asad Majdlawi was denied a visa to attend the 23rd ANOC general assembly in Tokyo

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