"I cannot shake the hand of someone the Israelis have brought to whitewash their fascism and genocide. We are suffering." That was the Palestinian FA's explanation for what unfolded at the FIFA Congress in Vancouver on Thursday — and it cuts to the heart of why football keeps failing to deal with this conflict seriously.
Palestinian FA President Jibril Rajoub refused to stand alongside Israel FA Vice-President Basim Sheikh Suliman when both were called to the stand by FIFA President Gianni Infantino. Infantino physically placed his hand on Rajoub's arm and gestured for him to move closer. Rajoub didn't move.
The handshake that wasn't
Infantino's response was to take the stand and appeal for unity: "We will work together, President Rajoub, Vice-President Suliman. Let's work together to give hope to the children. These are complex matters."
Palestinian FA Vice-President Susan Shalabi wasn't having it. She told Reuters that Infantino's push for a reconciliatory handshake came moments after Rajoub had spent 15 minutes making a detailed case for why Israeli clubs should not be allowed to operate out of West Bank settlements. Trying to wrap that speech with a symbolic gesture felt, to her, like a dismissal of everything that had just been said.
"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."
The wider dispute isn't going away
This isn't just about optics at a conference table. Last week, the Palestinian FA appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport after FIFA ruled last month it would take no action against Israeli clubs based in West Bank settlements. FIFA's reasoning: the unresolved legal status of the West Bank under international law makes any ruling too complicated. The Palestinian FA's position is the opposite — that the rules are clear and FIFA is simply refusing to apply them.
Israel has denied committing genocide in Gaza. FIFA, for its part, appears determined to keep the Palestinian-Israeli football dispute in a state of managed ambiguity rather than force a decision that would have real consequences for either side.
As Rajoub and Shalabi left the Vancouver Convention Centre, they were confronted by a separate group of protesters demanding FIFA ban Iran's national team over alleged links to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. When asked if the Palestinian situation made him sympathetic to pro-IRGC positions, Rajoub was blunt: "We're not supporting anyone, we just want the support of the international community."
That's the position the Palestinian FA keeps returning to. Whether FIFA is actually listening is a different question entirely.
