FIFA's president tried to get Israel and Palestine soccer officials to shake hands. He failed badly.

VANCOUVER, B.C. — The most dramatic moment of the FIFA Congress ended up not being about Iran, or Donald Trump, or anything directly related to this summer’s World Cup.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino invited leaders from the soccer federations of Palestine and Israel to the stage to speak: Palestine Football Association president Jibril Rajoub, and Israel Football Association vice president Basim Sheikh Suliman.

After that, Infantino tried to get them to pose together for a photo and handshake. But Rajoub refused. Instead, he gave Infantino an earful on stage, with the whole Congress gathering watching in the hall and many more people watching online.

It was quite striking to see, and it had to sting Infantino. He would have loved the glory of bringing the two together, but was instead embarrassed as the world watched.

In 2024, Palestine formally proposed to suspend Israel from FIFA amid the conflict with Hamas, particularly citing teams from Israeli settlements in the West Bank competing in Israeli soccer competitions. The PFA also filed a complaint over discrimination.

This past March, FIFA announced it would do nothing on the settlement teams issue, and gave Israel’s FA a fine and warning on the second issue. This week, the Palestinian association appealed FIFA’s decision on the settlement teams to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

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On Thursday, Infantino said on stage that representatives from Palestine and Israel had requested to speak. He sounded happy to grant the requests, and first took a few minutes to speak himself.

“I would also like to congratulate President Rajoub and the PFA, who continue to keep football alive in Palestine despite the circumstances,” he said. “The Palestine Football Association of course has rights, the same rights as all associations around the world.”

He added that the PFA has “our full respect and admiration for the work that you do and the actions that you take. And I want to make this very clear. You’re more than ever part of the FIFA family, and it will always be the case.”

Then Infantino turned to the Israeli FA.

“In a very difficult context, President Shino [Moshe Zuares] is always trying to use football to build a bridge,” he said. “A bridge between nations, due to his true and uncompromising belief that there can be a better future for Israel and its neighbors. And that’s what we need, probably now more than ever, so thank you to President Shino for this.”

Infantino then promised to visit both entities “as soon as the conditions allow,” and said “your two federations have the same rights,” including “the right to organize football in your respective territories” and “the right to represent your countries on the international stage.”

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Rajoub spoke first of the two representatives, for around 15 minutes.

“We do not ask FIFA to solve a political conflict, we ask FIFA to govern football,” he said. “We do not ask FIFA to decide borders. We ask FIFA to apply its own provisions on where a member association may organize football and where it may not, and it’s simple: associations may organize football on the territory of their own country.”

Rajoub then asserted that “the West Bank including East Jerusalem, is not a territory of Israel according to every single piece of international law. It’s not a disputed territory. … A member association cannot benefit from FIFA membership while permitting a structure in which football is organized on another member association’s territory without consent.”

At another point, he said: “We acknowledge the sensitivity of this matter. We also acknowledge the care required by due process. But the due process cannot become a permanent waiting room.”

It should be noted that Rajoub has had a checkered past with FIFA and was sanctioned in 2018 after FIFA alleged he incited “violence and hatred” after imploring fans to show their disdain for Argentina’s FA by by burning images and jerseys of Lionel Messi in the lead up to a scheduled Israel-Argentina game in Jerusalem. A few days later, Argentina withdrew from the game.

Suliman, the first Israeli soccer administrator of Arab descent, alternated between Arabic and Hebrew as he spoke for just over six minutes. He did not mention the settlement teams.

“I am very proud to carry out my work, believing in participation, equality, and our capability to live together and to be side by side in the Israeli community through football,” he said, according to FIFA’s official interpreter. “I would like to take the opportunity to talk to you positively on how football can be the game that we all love, and that we believe can be a unifying actor as forward for development and to enhance the social fabric in a community.”

After citing some examples, from young players to teams of mixed ethnicities and mixed genders, he turned to his Palestinian counterparts.

“The Israeli M.A. [member association] has supported the membership of the Palestinian M.A. as an equal member since day one, and we still have the same position,” Suliman said. “We are proud of our squads and their squads. In football, there is no place for politics, and everyone has the right to play and to compete. … We call upon everyone to do their best in order for us to meet next time and have a better situation, and we also extend a hand to the Palestinian M.A. in order to have a victory for our shared values that I have mentioned.”

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Both speakers were applauded by the attendees when they finished their speeches. But then things turned awkward.

When Rajoub returned to the stage, Infantino’s intent for a photo and handshake became clear. The microphones were turned down, so what Rajoub said was somewhat inaudible. As that happened, Suliman stood nearby and watched.

Infantino eventually stepped away from Rajoub, walked over to the speaker’s podium, and spoke again as both men stood in front of him.

“Let me thank the two representatives from Israel and from Palestine who have the same rights, the same duties, and the same obligations, who are members of FIFA,” Infantino said. “We work together. You have my commitment, you have the support of the whole room.”

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At one point as Infantino spoke, Rajoub and Suliman looked at each other from a few feet away, but came no closer. After Infantino finished, Rajoub said loudly enough to be heard across the hall: “Please, please, please, we are suffering.”

After the Congress ended, Rajoub met with the media, and had much more to say.

“The guy who spoke on behalf of Israel, he did not even pay attention to the suffering, to what’s going on. He is trying to whitewash the ugly face of this Israeli government — genocide, ethnic cleansing,” he alleged. “Do they have the right even to be part of FIFA?”

The big pack of media stood silently and recorded the remarks.

“From my side, I still respect and will follow all the legal procedures through FIFA institutions,“ Rajoub said,” but I think it’s the time to understand that Israel should be sanctioned because of the violations of the statutes of FIFA [over] human rights.”

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He praised Infantino: “I respect Gianni, and I respect FIFA, and you know, he’s trying. This is his mission. He’s the chief of everybody, and he has the right to try.”

But he then said Suliman was “representing a criminal like Bibi,” referring to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and said, “How can I shake hands or have a photo with such a man?”

Rajoub declined to say whether Infantino’s move surprised him, saying “this is not the issue,” and later added “don’t go to the details, go to principles.”

A few minutes later, FIFA general secretary Mattias Grafström also twice declined to answer that question when asked directly.

After the fracas, Israeli FA secretary general Yariv Teper spoke. He said the moment was not discussed in advance, but he called it “a missed opportunity in order to show something else to the world.”

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Asked about Rajoub’s words above, Teper declined to address them.

“We are not dealing with politics,” he said. “We are dealing only with football, in order to bring a better future for football in all of the regions in the world — especially in our region, the Middle East. So that was our mission in this Congress. If someone wants to take us to the political area, this is not for us.”

He did acknowledge, though: “We are not naive, we are familiar with the situation. It’s a complex situation — all over the world, not just in this. You can see a lot of other places in the world that are very challenged with regard to political situations or other situations.”

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