Recently, Indonesia which was to host the Under-20 World Cup, rejected to allow Israeli football team in the games. Indonesian President Joko Widodo had asked the head of the country’s football federation to announce the country’s protest at the presence of the Israeli regime in these competitions. The draw ceremony of the tournament was supposed to be held in Jakarta, but this decision by the Indonesian government caused its delay. In a video message, Indonesian president confirmed the ban and emphasized that he will discuss this matter with FIFA officials.
This is the first time in history that the Israeli regime’s team reached the final stage of this tournament.
About 100 prominent religious figures in Indonesia announced their protest in Jakarta against the presence of the Israeli regime in these competitions, triggering such a government decision. Indonesian president said that this country’s decision had nothing to do with the interference of politics in sports, because their support for Palestine was “definite and permanent” and had nothing to do with the current situation.
It is noteworthy that Indonesia as the world’s biggest Muslim country is one of the supporters of the Palestinian rights and has no diplomatic relations with the Israeli occupation. The 23rd U-20 World Cup will be held from May 20 to June 11. This tournament was planned to be held in 2021, but it was postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The Indonesian support to the Palestinian people drew welcome from the resistance groups. Fathi Hamad, the head of Hamas Youths Bureau, said: “We appreciate the genuine position of the governor of Bali who asked the ministry of sports and youth to prevent the entry of the Israeli football team into the country in case of hosting the Under-20 World Cup due to the continuing crimes of the Zionist regime against the Palestinian nation.... We are proud of this position, which expresses the authenticity of the Indonesian nation and its honorable positions and we ask the Islamic and Arab countries to expand the scope of sanctioning the Israeli occupation regime in all fields in support of the just Palestinian cause.”
The plan to prevent the Israeli football team comes as when last year thousands of Israeli citizens traveled to Qatar for World Cup, they faced public unwelcome and humiliation. Also, football fans from across the world in various matches voiced their support to the Palestinian cause in the Qatari stadiums. The World Cup became a nightmare for the Israelis, and they had to conceal their nationality to avoid public fury and even harassment. This humiliation was so heavy for Tel Aviv officials that they wrote to the FIFA and expressed their concerns and anger.
FIFA double standards
The FIFA, obviously under sway of the pro-Israeli lobby and the West, in reaction to the Indonesian move stripped the country of its hosting rights.
“FIFA has decided, due to the current circumstances, to remove Indonesia as the host of the FIFA U-20 World Cup 2023,” part of its statement said, adding: “A new host will be announced as soon as possible, with the dates of the tournament currently remaining unchanged.”
The FIFA, which was under pressure by the Israelis for Qatar World Cup public treatment, is trying to settle the Muslim countries’ hash to prevent future anti-Israeli sentiments in sports events. But the fact is that the governments in these countries have full support of their public in this case. The Indonesians took to the streets, for example, to express their patronage to the government’s position. In other words, Palestinian cause for them is higher than hosting privileges and such punishments are regarded as a price they are ready to pay for supporting the human values.
Though the FIFA claims that sports are separate from politics, it apparently exercises double standards in sports. It has banned Indonesia from holding the World Cup in support of the Israeli regime while the Israelis have been killing and injuring tens of thousands of Palestinians and expelling millions of people from their lands for more than seven decades. Still, these crimes are ignored by the FIFA authorities and so far no punishment has been announced against the occupiers.
However, in response to the Russian military operation in Ukraine, the FIFA last year banned Russia from all sports tournaments in a concerted move. If it was not for FIFA ban, Russia could be among the 32 football teams playing in Qatar World Cup. But politics beat the sports and the Russian athletes were removed from the world games. The FIFA labels Russia a criminal country for its Ukraine campaign while Tel Aviv is unmatched in its crimes against humanity and the FIFA authorities not even dare to condemn the Israeli atrocities against the Palestinians. The Israeli crimes are so atrocious that these days rebukes are even coming out of its Western backers who are not allowing Israeli officials in. However, these FIFA punitive measures show that only countries that go a separate way from the West and Israelis underdog such bans and those aligned with the West are shown passion and support even if they slaughter thousands of Palestinians every day.
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