"We are suffering!" That was Jibril Rajoub's message to Gianni Infantino on the floor of FIFA's annual Congress in Vancouver — and it came at the precise moment Infantino was trying to manufacture a handshake between the Palestinian and Israeli football representatives for the cameras.
It didn't happen. Rajoub refused. And the whole thing unravelled in front of hundreds of delegates in what became the most charged moment of the entire conference.
What actually went down on stage
After both the Israel Football Association's vice president Basim Sheikh Suliman and Palestinian Football Association president Rajoub had addressed delegates, Infantino called both men back to the podium. Suliman returned. Rajoub did not — instead pulling Infantino into a heated, largely inaudible conversation that stretched on for several minutes, with Suliman standing awkwardly apart.
Infantino clasped Rajoub's hands. He returned to the microphone. He left it again and tried once more to bring them together. Again, it didn't happen. In the end, he hugged each man separately, and they walked off stage in different directions. At one point, FIFA's own broadcast stream appeared to freeze — attributed to a "technical issue" by FIFA sources.
Sources with knowledge of the Congress arrangements confirmed to The Athletic that the photo opportunity had been pre-planned. FIFA secretary general Mattias Grafstrom declined twice to confirm or deny it. Yariv Teper, the IFA's acting general secretary, denied it was pre-planned but called it a "missed opportunity."
Rajoub, for his part, wouldn't say directly whether he'd been told in advance a handshake was coming — but he made his position on it absolutely clear.
Why Rajoub wouldn't shake hands
Speaking in the mixed zone — the first person from the Congress to do so — Rajoub didn't hold back. "Could I shake hands with someone representing a fascist and racist government?" he said. "I don't think that I have to shake hands. I don't think that he's a qualified partner to me."
His speech on the Congress floor had lasted 15 minutes and zeroed in on a grievance that has been festering through multiple FIFA Congresses: the Israeli Football Association organising official league football in nine clubs based in the occupied West Bank — Palestinian territory under international law — without PFA approval. He cited FIFA's own disciplinary committee findings, which he said described "systematic failure" and "grave violations" including breaches of non-discrimination and human rights obligations. "Those are not our words," Rajoub told delegates. "They are FIFA disciplinary findings."
Suliman's response focused on the co-existence of Arab and Jewish players within Israeli football — noting that 33 per cent of registered teams are mixed — and extended an olive branch in tone, if not in substance. He did not address the West Bank clubs directly.
Infantino's attempted resolution? An invitation for both nations to join an upcoming FIFA Under-15 tournament. As diplomatic gestures go, it landed about as well as you'd expect given the circumstances.
Rajoub's verdict on Infantino himself was notably measured, though. "I think Gianni has the right to try to bridge gaps," he said. "But I think maybe he understands, but he does not know the deep suffering of the Palestinian people."
The whole episode unfolded less than 30 minutes before Infantino announced he intends to stand for re-election as FIFA president in 2027. Whatever narrative he was hoping to build around that announcement, this wasn't it.
