Open mouth, insert foot. Jibril Rajoub is once again at the center of controversy.
The PFA President has once again tarnished the image of Palestinian Football by running his mouth.
Protocol. Decorum. Tact.
These are some words associated with the position of President in organizations big and small. Jibril Rajoub’s 18 year reign over Palestinian football has been short of all three.
Rajoub has always been brash. This is a man who as head of the Preventative Security Service was always eager to detain rivals from opposing political factions and members of civil society. His attempt to translate that notoriety into a political career failed miserably in 2006 when he tried to run for the Legislative Council (Palestine’s parliament) in his hometown of Dura and came in 12th place.
Two years later he was parachuted into elections for the Palestine Football Association presidency. The other candidate was convinced to drop out and Rajoub won unopposed. He would go onto win four more terms by acclimation.
An on script Jibril Rajoub is sleep inducing. When the 72 year old veers off script it usually ends in disaster. More often than not, Rajoub escapes criticism as he lets fly in front of friendly Palestinian Authority funded media. Every now and again his words get picked up by regional and international media which is what happened last week.
The Palestine national football team is still basking in the glow of their FIFA Arab Cup campaign. The entire nation was enraptured by the team’s run to the quarterfinal and in defeat fans were quick to complain about several decisions made by Egyptian referee Amin Omar in the 2-1 loss to Saudi Arabia.
Fans getting upset and taking to social media to criticize or meme-ify a referee is part and parcel of today’s game. For an FA President to launch into a tirade nearly two weeks after the fact is unacceptable.
“We were assigned a referee, may God not forgive him, that really represents all that is despicable and treacherous in the world of refereeing.”
That statement was like red meat for the fans and the clip did the rounds on social media. This, in turn, has led the Egyptian FA and the Saudi FF to release statements condemning Rajoub’s words.
This is not the first time Rajoub has broken with decorum. He drew the ire of the Jordan FA, when at the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, he was caught telling Iraqi players “Hopefully you will beat us” before Palestine’s final match at the tournament.
Jordan even asked FIFA to investigate for possible match fixing. Those words and Rajoub’s refusal to vote for Prince Ali bin Al-Hussein when he ran for FIFA President would harm the national team down the road. At the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, when Palestine needed to beat Jordan (who had already won Group B) to qualify for the knockout stages they were not given an easy ride. Jordan elected not to rotate its starters and sent Palestine crashing out at the Group Stage following a 0-0 draw.
Six months earlier, Jibril Rajoub got himself suspended from football activity for one year by FIFA when he called on fans to burn Lionel Messi’s shirt should Argentina contest a friendly against Israel.
The big issue for Palestinian football is that Rajoub’s words carry consequence. Palestinian players have benefited from the goodwill of Egypt who has allowed for Palestinian players to be registered as local players. The Saudi Football Federation has donated to the PFA on multiple occasions during Rajoub’s tenure.
Losing a crucial match can trigger an emotional reaction but one would expect a 72 year old President- who does not even like football- to choose his words carefully and leave the polemic statements for content creators on TikTok and Instagram.