PFA, Rajoub missing in action as campaign to kick Israel out of Football gains momentum
In spite of yesterday's UEFA could take action against Israel after the Vaud Canton voted to review their tax exempt status
Game Over Israel has made waves in recent months in the aftermath of a Times Square billboard that read: Israel is Committing a Genocide, Soccer Federations Boycott Israel.
That came to a head yesterday with a much awaited vote in the Canton of Vaud. The idea was to allow elected representatives to decide a key matter- should UEFA be considered a tax exempt, peace promoting body if it fails to take action against Israel?
That vote fell short after a raft of politicians opted to abstain. The final tally stood at 53-74.
For two weeks in September it seemed that Israel’s fate was sealed and that it would be facing an extended amount of time on the sidelines of the world’s most popular sport. UEFA’s President was close to calling a vote on the matter but on the last day of the month, a ceasefire agreement was drawn up by the Trump Administration which amounted to a stay of execution.
The work behind the scenes did continue and it was revealed by The Athletic that Game Over Israel had met with UEFA in December to discuss Israel’s suspension.
Which begs the question: What happened? And will Israel face the same repercussions Russia did in 2022?
PFA Inaction
The movement to kick Israel out of Football has been around for the past two decades. What started as a grassroots campaign once the purview of tireless activists has now gone mainstream. Unfortunately, the reason for its mainstreaming is due to a genocide that has seen the displacement of millions and the death of at least 70,000 Palestinians the vast majority of whom have been women and children.
Almost immediately, there were calls for Israel to be suspended from FIFA but the Palestine Football Association waited until after the 2023 Asian Cup (held in January-February 2024) to make a statement. Even then, the statement was made in tandem with the other 11 Football Associations that make up the West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) and was spearheaded not by the PFA but by their Jordanian counterparts.
As the bombs showed no sign of abating the casualties mounted and several footballers were amongst the dead. The most prominent of whom was Hani Al-Masdar who was killed on the eve of the Asian Cup’s opening match. During Palestine’s run at the tournament Mouyin Al-Maghribi who represented Palestine at the 1999 Pan Arab Games. Weeks later, on March 11th, Mohammed Barakat recorded his final words as bombs rained in the background. The striker who had two caps to his name, had played professionally for Al-Wehdat in Jordan and Al-Shoulla in Saudi Arabia.
Instead of pushing the issue, the PFA was strangely silent and the deaths of Al-Maghribi and Barakat received far less attention than Suleiman Obeid who would be killed in August 2025.
In fact, instead of lobbying his counterparts to take action against Israel at the FIFA Congress in Bangkok in May 2024 Jibril Rajoub instead flew to Dublin to attend a match between Bohemian FC and the Women’s National Team. He did eventually arrive in Bangkok just in time to hear that a decision on Israel’s suspension would be delayed. This would be the first of a half a dozen missed deadlines that FIFA would miss as it consulted “legal experts”.
The PFA’s response to FIFA’s delays has been to issue press releases in English and Arabic. There was a weird fixation during 2024 to host matches in Palestine which FIFA entertained. This request was in spite of the fact that the situation in the West Bank is so bad that league football has yet to return.
The organization failed to take the lead to protect Aida Youth Camp’s pitch in Bethlehem from being demolished by the IDF. The cause was eventually adopted by Swiss politicians and UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin and the decision was overturned.
PFA Self Sabotage
Eleven years ago Jibril Rajoub and the Palestine Football Association were thrust into the limelight of world football. The reason for that attention had nothing to do with team’s first ever appearance at the AFC Asian Cup but rather a campaign to get Israel kicked out of FIFA.
In the Summer of 2014 Israel launched a brutal 36 day assault on the Gaza Strip it named Operation Protective Edge. The brutality of the war far outstripped anything that came before it. Over 1,400 civilians were killed, nearly 600 of whom were children.
Two years before during another bombing campaign, the Israelis bombed the Paralympic Headquarters and Palestine Stadium.
The worsening conditions in Gaza and the increased brutality gave grassroots campaigns momentum and suddenly calls to suspend Israel from FIFA were no longer confined to the fringes of the internet.
Rajoub and the PFA decided to co-opt the movement, and as members of FIFA they were able to table the motion to kick Israel out of Football at the FIFA Congress in 2015.
Unlike the United Nations, FIFA’s congress was a more democratic body with any Member Association capable of bringing a motion forward to a vote. Since the arrival of Gianni Infantino, FIFA’s decision making has been concentrated in the hands of the executive branch.
Those procedural changes make a breakthrough with FIFA all that much harder. Moreover, there is very little evidence to believe that Jibril Rajoub is serious about kicking Israel out of FIFA.
In May 2015, the PFA President had the votes and crumbled under the pressure placed on him. At the 11th hour, following a bizarre speech, he withdrew the motion and then shook hands with his Israeli counterpart Avi Luzon.
What happened behind the scenes is the subject of much speculation but it is widely believed that Mahmoud Abbas and the political apparatus of the Palestinian Authority forced Rajoub to withdraw the motion at the request of United States.
Some of the gifts from that era that are on display in Jibril Rajoub’s office are a sword from Saudi Prince Talal bin Badr who was head of the UAFA. Curiously there is also a framed US National Team kit (the Popsicle shirt and shorts from the 2014 World Cup) with Rajoub and the number 10 emblazoned on the back.
FIFA Kicks the Can
In the aftermath of May 2015, FIFA made a promise to Jibril Rajoub and the PFA: The issue of Israeli settlement clubs would be investigated.
The man they put on the case was Tokyo Sexwale a South African politician and businessman who rose to prominence following the end of Apartheid. Given his background many assumed that Sexwale would help advocate for the removal of settlement clubs from the Israeli football pyramid. After all, FIFA had prevented teams in Crimea from joining the Russian football pyramid just months earlier. FIFA statutes state that one Member Association (MA) cannot play on another MA’s territory without expressed consent.
Six Israeli clubs are still based in settlements and host matches on land unlawfully seized from Palestinians. At least One of the clubs club plays on land privately owned by a Palestinian family which the family can no longer access. The family was not compensated and did not give FIFA or the Israel Football Association permission to play on its land.
What seemed like an open and shut case- especially given the Crimean precedence- dragged on for years. Two years into Sexwale’s investigation there was still no official report. Sexwale also pulled double duty for the first eight months of his mandate, choosing to run for the FIFA Presidency before ultimately withdrawing his candidacy in late February 2016.
When a report was finally produced in mid-2017, FIFA put out a statement washing their hands of the matter. The key paragraph from the October 2017 press release reads as follows:
“Given that the final status of the West Bank territories is the concern of the competent international public law authorities, the FIFA Council agrees that FIFA, in line with the general principle established in its Statutes, must remain neutral with regard to political matters.”
In July 2018, the appeal filed with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) by the PFA was dismissed.
A month later, FIFA suspended PFA President Jibril Rajoub for 12 months after he called on fans to burn Messi’s jersey if Argentina went ahead with a pre-World Cup friendly against Israel in Jerusalem. The match was eventually called off.
The suspension changed the posture of the PFA who have since resolved only to put out press releases documenting Israeli crimes against football. Even before the genocide, an unprovoked attack by the IDF on the Faisal Al-Husseini Stadium in March 2023 yielded no statement from FIFA. This in spite of the fact that tear gas canisters were launched into the stadium while a the League Cup final was being contested risking the lives of players and fans in attendance
Sea Change
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again whilst expecting different results.
FIFA’s tried and tested method when it does not want to make a tough decision is to delay. Gianni Infantino did not and does not want to suspend Israel from FIFA. So he asked for more time to investigate, consult with relevant parties, and refer the matter to subcommittees. This in spite of the horrific images of a football stadium, built using FIFA’s funds, being used as a concentration camp by the Israeli military and hundreds of dead Palestinian footballers, coaches, and administrators.
With the PFA refusing to color outside the lines FIFA's tactic to delay worked when a ceasefire agreement came into place on September 30th, 2025.
Or so they thought.
Game Over Israel had other ideas and noting that public opinion in Europe was firmly against Israel they targeted the sub confederation the Apartheid State plays in- UEFA.
There was also an important change in the status quo. The International Court of Justice ruled on the illegality of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem. The ruling meant the ambiguity FIFA- and UEFA- hid behind in 2017 no longer existed.
That brought the issue of the settlement clubs back into focus and would be one of the many prongs Game Over Israel would use in its campaign.
The campaign then added another element to its strategy- going after UEFA’s tax exempt status in Switzerland.
While Aleksander Ceferin has not keen to take an activist position on the matter there have been several signs pointing to the tenuous position of Israel in European Football. That was evidenced by the Stop Killing Children banner unfurled before the UEFA Super Cup and UEFA’s cryptic condolences in the aftermath of Suleiman Obeid’s murder.
It was widely speculated that Ceferin’s positions were shifting in part due to those around him. The government of Ceferin’s native Slovenia have been one of the most outspoken countries against the genocide and were the first EU nation to pass a full arms embargo. Ceferin’s brother, Rok, is also President of Slovenia’s constitutional court. Further worsening opinion of Israel in Slovenia is the fact that Israel’s Black Cube was caught trying to influence the nation’s upcoming elections.
There are also practical matters to consider should Israel remain. A riot sparked by Maccabi Tel Aviv fans in Amsterdam in November 2024 presented FAs with a stark choice: Either spend an exorbitant amount on protecting hooligans or forego home field advantage to play in Israeli friendly confines in Serbia and Hungary.
There was also a growing frustration amongst Football Associations in regards to the exorbitant costs of hosting Israeli teams and fans. Upon drawing Israel in their nations league group a whopping 67% of Irish fans were in favor of forfeiting the match. Many players and coaches also supported not playing the fixture including former national team manager Brian Kerr and Stephen Kenny.
Before the announcement of the ceasefire on September 30th, 2025 it looked like Israel had backed itself into a corner. There were more than enough votes on UEFA’s Executive Committee to vote on a motion to suspend Israel from UEFA if Ceferin called for a vote. The ceasefire offered Israel a stay of execution.
Yesterday’s vote in Vaud is not the end of the road. Even if the motion had passed it would have only triggered a review of UEFA’s tax exempt status and not a removal. In spite of the setback, The Game Over Israel campaign is not dropping the issue.
In a statement released yesterday Game Over Israel said: “We will continue to pursue UEFA in the Swiss federal courts and will imminently file a motion to compel the Swiss government to enforce international law on UEFA and suspend Israel.”
The campaign then added another element to its strategy- going after UEFA’s tax exempt status in Switzerland.