Wiesenthal Centre Celebrates FIFA Rejection of Palestinian Moves to Expel Israeli Football Association (IFA)

Centre thanks FIFA President for his letter of 7 August indicating appropriate action

Our campaign will end only when FIFA expels the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) for glorifying terrorismm or forces the PFA to remove the names of murderers from its stadiums, clubs andtournaments

Zurich, 29 October 2017

In a letter to Gianni Infantino, International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) President, Simon Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, «thanked himfor his 7 August response to the SWC appeal for ending Palestinian abuse of football as a weapon of war.

For over three years of our campaign, based upon Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) research, the Centre has constantly urged FIFA to quash Palestinian desecration of the ‘Beautiful Game’.

The FIFA letter stressed that FIFA expects its Confederation and Member Associations to comply with the principles of neutrality in matters of politics and religion and to avoid any form ofpolitical interference. Please rest assured that FIFA upholds these values and on the basis of the FIFA Statutes (Art.5 of the FIFA Statutes).

The Wiesenthal Centre's campaign will end only when FIFA expels the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) for glorifying terrorism or forces the PFA to remove the names of murderers from itsstadiums, clubs and tournaments», concluded Samuels.

For further information, contact Shimon Samuels at 0033 609 770 158, join the Center on Facebook, www.facebook.com/simonwiesenthalcenter, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent direct to your Twitter feed.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the UnitedStates. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).