Shame on Israel.The Palestinian national soccer team has been under attack by the Israeli state

[EAK]

Their names are Jawhar Nasser Jawhar, 19, and Adam Abd al-Raouf Halabiya, 17. They were once soccer players in the West Bank. Now they are never going to play sports again. Jawhar and Adam were on their way home from a training session in the Faisal al-Husseini Stadium on January 31 when Israeli forces fired upon them as they approached a checkpoint. After being shot repeatedly, they were mauled by checkpoint dogs and then beaten. Ten bullets were put into Jawhar’s feet. Adam took one bullet in each foot. After being transferred from a hospital in Ramallah to King Hussein Medical Center in Amman, they received the news that soccer would no longer be a part of their futures. (Israel’s border patrol maintains that the two young men were about to throw a bomb.)

This is only the latest instance of the targeting of Palestinian soccer players by the Israeli army and security forces. Death, injury or imprisonment has been a reality for several members of the Palestinian national team over the last five years. Just imagine if members of Spain’s top-flight World Cup team had been jailed, shot or killed by another country and imagine the international media outrage that would ensue. Imagine if prospective youth players for Brazil were shot in the feet by the military of another nation. But, tragically, these events along the checkpoints have received little attention on the sports page or beyond.

Much has been written about the psychological effect this kind of targeting has on the occupied territories. Sports represent escape, joy and community, and the Palestinian national soccer team, for a people without a recognized nation, is a source of tremendous pride. To attack the players is to attack the hope that the national team will ever truly have a home.

The Palestinian national football team, which formed in 1998, is currently ranked 144th in the world by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). They have never been higher than 115th. As Chairman of the Palestinian Football Association Jibril al-Rajoub commented bluntly, the problems are rooted in “the occupation’s insistence on destroying Palestinian sport.”

Over the last year, in response to this systematic targeting of Palestinian soccer, al-Rajoub has attempted to assemble forces to give Israel the ultimate sanction and, as he said, “demand the expulsion of Israel from FIFA and the International Olympic Committee.” Al-Rajoub claims the support of Jordan, Qatar, Iran, Oman, Algiers and Tunisia in favor of this move, and promises more countries, with an opportunity at a regional March 14 meeting of Arab states, to organize more support. He has also pledged to make the resolution formal when all the member nations of FIFA meet in Brazil.

Qatar’s place in this, as host of the 2022 World Cup, deserves particular scrutiny. As the first Arab state to host the tournament, they are under fire for the hundreds of construction deaths of Nepalese workers occurring on their watch. As the volume on these concerns rises, Qatar needs all the support in FIFA that they can assemble. Whether they eventually see the path to that support as one that involves confronting or accommodating Israel, will be fascinating to see.

As for Sepp Blatter, he clearly recognizes that there is a problem in the treatment of Palestinian athletes by the Israeli state. Over the last year, he has sought to mediate this issue by convening a committee of Israeli and Palestinian authorities to see if they can come to some kind of agreement about easing the checkpoints and restrictions that keep Palestinian athletes from leaving (and trainers, consultants and coaches from entering) the West Bank and Gaza. Yet al-Rajoub sees no progress. As he said, “This is the way the Israelis are behaving and I see no sign that they have recharged their mental batteries. There is no change on the ground. We are a full FIFA member and have the same rights as all other members.”

The shooting into the feet of Jawhar and Adam has taken a delicate situation and made it an impossible one. Sporting institutions like FIFA and the IOC are always wary about drawing lines in the sand when it comes to the conduct of member nations. But the deliberate targeting of players is seen, even in the corridors of power, as impossible to ignore. As long as Israel subjects Palestinian athletes to detention and violence, their seat at the table of international sports will be never be short of precarious.

After Latest Incident, Israel’s Future in FIFA Is Uncertain | The Nation

 

[Fukuoka]

What a shame for their brothers who don't care

 

[Jaanbaz]

Don't worry @Solomon2 would be here soon and declare these two as terrorists or will still blindly defend clear war crimes.

 

[haman10]

lol , looks like theyre reaching the dead end , theyre so pathetic

@Hazzy997

 

[Fukuoka]

JEWS don't care, they hate mixing with goyims
They also provoke it

All they want from goyims is money, they don't want people to be attracted by Israel and having the idea to visit it

 

[Falcon29]

lol , looks like theyre reaching the dead end , theyre so pathetic

@Hazzy997

This is an attempt to censor Palestinian identity, they don't want people to recognize the palestinains as a people and this says much about their 'peaceful' intentions. When a French museum honored murdered journalists in Gaza Israel has accused the museum of supporting terrorism and the musem felt pressured and removed their names from the museum. It's clearly because they don't want our identity circulating around the world and that is identity genocide they try attempting yet tell us all they want is peace from violence.

Don't worry @Solomon2 would be here soon and declare these two as terrorists or will still blindly defend clear war crimes.

They try limiting our freedoms abroad as well, whenever there are Palestinians mentioned in Western history, museums or integrated into western society they seek to undermine those who recognize Palestinians. Now tell me what that says about their intentions.

 

[EAK]

@Solomon2 ...care to explain any B.S theory of yours about this...

 

[Solomon2]

Don't worry @Solomon2 would be here soon and declare these two as terrorists or will still blindly defend clear war crimes.

From the Ha'aretz link:

Wounded Palestinian teens dispute Border Police claims
Say they were shot, beaten, attacked by police dogs for nothing; troops say they were about to throw bomb.
By Amira Hass | Feb. 3, 2014 | 8:01 AM |

14

File photo: Palestinian school children walk past a section of Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Abu Dis, on the outskirt of Jerusalem. Photo by AP


Two Palestinians have been hospitalized in Jerusalem since Friday after they were shot and arrested by Border Police forces amid claims they were going to throw a bomb. The two Palestinians are under guard in Hadassah University Hospital, Ein Karem, have been operated on for their gunshot wounds, and will remain there until their treatment is finished. They deny the claims made against them, and contend that the Border Patrol forces shot them, sent attack dogs to chase them, beat them with their rifle butts, and punched and kicked them.

Adam Jamous, 17, and Jawahar Halbiyeh, 19, are residents of Abu Dis, a town east of Jerusalem. Last Thursday evening they were en route to visit a friend in a neighborhood close to a Border Police base. An Abu Dis resident told Haaretz that before midnight, residents heard a lot of gunfire and saw dogs attacking the two men when they looked out the window.

Attorney Tarek Barghout, from Palestinian Authority prisoners’ ministry, visited the two men in the hospital twice. One of them, Barghout says, was hit by many bullets and had a bite wound on his arm. The lawyer told Haaretz that the two suspects told him they bought cigarettes at a nearby store and were shot as soon as they lit a match. Immediately after, they were attacked by dogs. They claim the Border Police troops beat them, then dragged them to the base – 300 meters from where they were attacked. They claim they were beaten inside the base as well.

In response to inquiries, a Border Police spokesman said, “During operational activity, a group of individuals was seen just seconds before throwing bombs at security forces. When they saw the Border Policemen, the group attempted to run away and tried again to throw bombs at the policemen. The policemen initiated the protocol for opening fire in order to neutralize the threat. The suspects were apprehended, and a bomb was found on them, which has been deactivated.”

The response included a picture of the bomb, but did not include any answers to the claim that the suspects were beaten.

A Hadassah spokesman said the two “were admitted on Friday morning and are being held in the orthopedics unit. Their condition is stable. They were operated on, and are receiving all necessary treatment.”

Solomon2 comment: Note the Border Patrol troops are usually Arab Druze, not Jews. As many have learned, the Druze shouldn't be messed with. And considering the boys attempted to attack them not once, but twice, it's not surprising that the BP made sure to subdue them once captured.

It was just an unfortunate fact that the boys were members of the team. Apparently there was no significant impact on football relations:

Israel and Palestinians find peace on the soccer pitch
New mechanism improves facilitation of movement of Palestinian soccer players, coaches, referees, officials and even equipment, FIFA says.
By Haaretz Sports Staff | Feb. 3, 2014 | 7:02 PM |

1

IFA chairman Avi Luzon, left, with FIFA president Sepp Blatter in Israel in 2008. Photo by Yaniv Sofer
Israel and the Palestinians have finally found something they can agree upon: progress has been made in the field of soccer cooperation, FIFA reported on its website on Monday.

Both the Israel Football Association and the Palestinian Football Association agreed that a new mechanism implemented since they last met in September has improved the "facilitation of movement of soccer players, coaches, referees, officials and equipment into, out of and within Palestine," according to FIFA, the international governing body of soccer. Moreover, "the new mechanism had improved communication between them while accelerating the decision-making process concerning the movement of football representatives."

IFA chairman Avi Luzon met with PFA president Jibril Rajoub under the presence of FIFA president Sepp Blatter and FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke at the evaluation session in Zurich. Blatter announced the establishment of the FIFA Task Force Israel-Palestine in July.

“I’m pleased by the progress made by both associations in the past months. I remain confident that further important steps will be taken in the near future in order to reach a good solution for the development of football in Israel and Palestine,” said FIFA President Blatter, according to the website.

FIFA said it would continue to monitor the overall process. The governing body announced its goal is to sign a Memorandum of Understanding ahead of its upcoming congress.

***

If I recall correctly, there are Palestinian Arabs whose loyalty to football exceeds their loyalty to their political leaders, as at least one of their terror bombers refused to attack a football game a few years back. He would attack Jews at any other venue, but not a football game. I suppose some Arab political leaders see such attitudes as dangerous and are trying to appeal to the soccer-oriented segment of the populace by accusing Israel of being anti-football or something.

As for The Nation itself: note its speculations were proved wrong less than a week after publishing, and judging from the comments following the article was appealing to its anti-Zionist readership.

Thanks for inviting me to comment, guys!

 

[Falcon29]

A load of crap, they were trying to throw a bomb.

Typical Israeli BS claims, and this was in Palestinian land.

 

[Solomon2]

Sunday, March 16, 2014
The lies about the "Palestinian footballers" (updated)

Bob Knot in the comments has a tour de force of investigative journalism that destroys the recent libel claiming that Israeli troops fired on the feet of "Palestinian football players" and exposes the people using that incident to disqualify Israel from FIFA as liars. Here I reproduce the comment as a single post.


I found the news about the two young “Palestinian” footballers that were shot by Israeli border police and the growing demands to ban Israel from International competitions upsetting. I know that Zionists “control the world” and all that; there is nothing really to fear, but still, I had to dig up information on the incident.
It would seem that the anti-Zionist Jew-hating camp never miss an opportunity to
demonize and smear Israel .

Dusty of Pro-Israel Bay Bloggers wrote about this new libel here and so did Edgar of Confronting anti-Semitism and Israel hatred on his blog here . Unfortunately, it is not enough.
There are now many calls for the expulsion of Israel from FIFA.
A quick note first and then on with the findings; there was one detail that both Dusty and Edgar were incorrect about in otherwise excellent articles: the two “Palestinian” boys were first treated for their injuries in Hadassah Hospital and were released after four days. Their families checked them then in into a medical facility in Ramallah to be later transferred to King Hussein Medical Center in Amman.
Conflicting reports
The Arabic media first reported on this shooting incident two days after it took place and only after a lawyer for the “Palestinian Ministry of Detainees” got involved. Now, as is often the case in the “Palestinian” world of distortions and lies, there are several conflicting reports on this incident , all disregarding the Israeli Border Police statement .

Notice how Ma’an published two different versions:

“Adam Abd al-Rouf Jamous, 17, and Jawhar Nasser al-Din Halbieh, 19, were mauled by police dogs after Israeli forces opened fire on them without warning near al-Zayyem checkpoint near Abu Dis east of Jerusalem on January 30, Barghouth said.
The pair were visiting a friend's home nearby when Border Police suddenly opened fire in their direction before siccing the dogs on them.” (Ma’an News Agency, Saturday 01/02/2014 (updated) 03/02/2014 10:19, emphasis added)
​

And then…

“Jawhar Nasser Jawhar, 19, and Adam Abd al-Raouf Halabiya, 17, were shot by Israeli soldiers as they were walking home from a training session in the Faisal al-Husseini Stadium in al-Ram in the central West Bank on Jan. 31.” (Ma’an News Agency, Published Friday 14/02/2014 (updated) 16/02/2014 11:54, emphasis added)
​

Questions

Did the incident take place on the 30th or on the 31st of January?
Were the two visiting a friend’s home as initially reported or were they returning home from training?
Does the Abu Dis Youth Club train in Al-Ram?
Was there actually a training session in the Faisal Al-Husseini International Stadium on the 3oth?
Did the two attend one? How about the 31st or were they in the hospital already?
What about the cigarettes story, why was it changed?
Why did Ma’an publish a different version ten days after the first one?

Just look at this map , it is practically unlikely that they traveled from Al-Ram to Abu Dis at night.
The many open questions and holes in the news reports should cast serious doubts about the validity of the “Palestinian” version. Any serious journalist would have looked into the circumstances that led to the boys’ injuries, verify the information, and only then publish the story. That is apparently not the way people that are out to demonize Israel work. Let’s face it; facts are irrelevant, a little research and integrity are not required when the ultimate goal is the destruction of Israel.

Love of the game

The Nation, Mondoweiss, and others based their libel and calls for FIFA to kick out Israel on the latest Ma’an article because racism and violence have no place in football. Thumbs up for that, Israelis believe the same; let’s find out more about these two young, innocent, “footballers”, their club, and what does their “training” entail?

Player Joher Naser , club
The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP)


(more after the break)


he happily shared a photo of the 2013 edition with the fans. [see original for pic]

Posing for the fans with the away kit is part of the job :
https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akam...


The DFLP team members like to hang out with their own kind :
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akam...


Actually, team bonding is a favorite activity. Here is Joher during a DFLP march:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akam...


Joher’s love or the club knows no limits:
“Resistance is the only way for national unity, and to liberate the
homeland”

https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akam...

Joher is a motivator, here is what he had to say at a December 1, 2013 team talk: “The revolution continues, and the uprising coming to bring freedomand liberty and life” (Translated by Bing)

Working on a new throw-in technique? Joher posted a photo that was taken during an open training session

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akam...



Adam Johar is a member of the same squad. The national resistance brigades, the armed wing of the Democratic Front in Abu Dis Red Fort posted a message of encouragement to both comrades .

Adam is ambitious, he invested in a special skill development training course .
Here is Adam in a one-on-one session with the coach .

What are the odds that the two were shot at while participating in a riot that included throwing firebombs at the Israeli border police?
Wait. Before you place your bets, I will share another piece of information about Joher’s footballing career; it looks as if he participated in night clashes with the borderpolice before ...[see original for pics]

Remember the border police statement?

“During operational activity, a group of individuals
was seen just seconds before throwing bombs at security forceswas seen just seconds before throwing bombs at security forces. When they saw the Border Policemen, the group attempted to run away and tried again to throw bombs at the policemen. The policemeninitiated the protocol for opening fire in order to neutralize the threat. The suspects were apprehended, and a bomb was found on them, which has been deactivated.”
(emphasis added)​

What say you, little terrorists or innocent footballers?

Injuries

Ten bullets were put into Jawhar’s feet. Adam took one bullet in each foot.​

(Dave Zirin on March 3, 2014)

They shot them repeatedly in the feet​

(Annie Robbins on March 5, 2014)


Complete lies. There are many photos and videos online documenting their injuries in detail but not a single one of those show a foot injury; study their feet to your heart’s content:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akam...

Beat them and broke their knees​

(Annie Robbins on March 5, 2014)

​

February 16, 2014 (that is nearly 3 weeks before the Mondo libel was published):

“Thankfully the results of MRI fully, no fractures in the knee and wait for tomorrow's doctors to take out the bullet” (Bing Translated)
https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akam...[see original for pics]

doctors said it may take six months to evaluate if Jawhar or Halabiya will ever be able to walk again​

(Copy and Paste Editor at Large Annie Robbins on March 5, 2014)

​

Oh, STFU already. Research your topic a little instead of relying on an anti-Semitic propaganda Websites like Ma’an, Qods, and etc. Oh, silly me, how could I forget that Mondo Annie is part of that propaganda. Here are a couple of photos that were posted to Facebook about two weeks before The Nation’s Zirin and Mondoweiss’ Annie published their articles:

February 21, 2014 near El-Rabahiye, Jordan
https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akam...[see original for pics]
February 24, 2014
https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akam...[see original for pics]
February 25, 2014
https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akam...[see original for pics]
​

”Palestinian” propaganda
The two boys have become tools in the “Palestinian” propaganda machine; from the moment of their release from Hadassah Hospital:
- visits by many high ranking “Palestinian” officials
- conducted numerous interviews with the media
- posted many articles, photos and videos to Social Media sites​

February 5, 2014: The Minister of Prisoners' Affairs, Issa Qaraqe and the Minister of Health, Dr. Jawad Awad (http://www.alarab24.com/palest...

​

February 9, 2014: Maj. Gen. Jibril Rajoub, head of the Palestinian Federation of Football (http://www.alarab24.com/sport/...
February 11, 2014: A delegation from the Ministry of Education (http://www.alarab24.com/palest...
February 13, 2014: Prince Ali bin Al Hussein and Major General Jibril Rajoub (http://www.alarab24.com/sport/... andhttps://www.facebook.com/Jibri...
There were other high profile visits during their stay in Amman;
it is all documented in this Facebook group @https://www.facebook.com/group...

Peace partner Jibril Rajoub (the Palestinian Football Association) said he will seek the expulsion of Israel from FIFA at the next FIFA Congress in June.
Previous gems from Jibril Rajoub include statements like "I swear that if we had a nuke, we'd have used it this very morning," (http://www.israelnationalnews....,
that “the resistance will continue” (http://www.israelnationalnews....,
and that kidnappings are “the only language that Israel understands,” (http://www.timesofisrael.com/f....
Other Israel haters have tried to use this case as evidence of Israel's evil, particularly Max Blumenthal in his recent debate with Richard Landes. As the photos above prove, they are all lying.
UPDATE: Adam Johar's timeline on Facebook includes a photo of another of his heroes: (h/t Avi)



139

Posted by Elder of Ziyon at 8:35 PM 38 Comments

 

[PlanetWarrior]

Seems like you guys made a mistake inviting Solomon2 to comment here

 

[Falcon29]

Seems like you guys made a mistake inviting Solomon2 to comment here

No they didn't, Solomon did not offer any evidence that they were in possession of 'bombs'. Had they actually been then they would've been treated for their wounds at an Israeli prison. You're just a gullible anti Palestinian troll. All he gave us was an Zionist blog piece which still does not offer any evidence that they were throwing 'bombs'. The Israeli military has camera footage they won't release.

Second point, even though they didn't attack those occupying soldiers, they're absolutely entitled to resist the occupation. These Israeli troops are inside Palestinian territory and not in Israeli territory. Therefore they are legitimate targets along with illegal Israeli settlers.

This is a garbage covert story by the Israeli occupation. This is what they did with Jordanian judge they murdered weeks ago. The Israeli military claimed he attacked them and they had no choice but to kill him. They stood by this, yet their PM urged an investigation, the Israeli military still said they stand by what they said. Yet, just recently, they are now investigation his death because it's a typical cover up bullshit story.

 

[$@rJen]

So terrorists got what they deserved>>>> Sooooo Coooool

 

[Falcon29]

So terrorists got what they deserved>>>> Sooooo Coooool

Reported for hatred and malicious lies. Don't dehumanize people here because you support an immoral Israeli occupation or you're going to expect to be banned, do you understand that?

 

[$@rJen]

Reported for hatred and malicious lies. Don't dehumanize people here because you support an immoral Israeli occupation or you're going to expect to be banned, do you understand that?

H... Bala Bla Bla... I don't have to talk about Palestinians... Everyone know about them,,, They let die their own kids and lift their dead bodies to be photographed to blame everything on Israel.... You call it israeli Occupation or whatever... Nothing is going to change the Border. Land of Jews would always be with them. If you want your own country then Recognize the State of Israel and Drop the Arms of Hamas and other terrorists Who support Terror against Israel or be always without a country