VANCOUVER: Palestinian football federation Presi­dent Jibril Rajoub refused to take part in a photo opportunity with Israel football official Basim Sheikh Suliman in a tense incident at the end of FIFA’s Congress on Thursday.

After both Rajoub and Suliman had addressed delegates, FIFA president Gianni Infantino invited both men to stand alongside him.

However Rajoub declined the gesture, refusing repeated attempts by Infantino to encourage him to participate in the moment.

At one point Rajoub could be heard to say: “We are suffering.” The Palestinian Football Association recently appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) over FIFA’s refusal to sanction Israel over football clubs based in the West Bank. The PFA maintains that clubs based in West Bank settlements should not be allowed to compete in leagues controlled by Israeli football authorities.

In 2024, United Nations experts said at least eight football clubs had been identified as playing in “Israeli colonial settlements” and called on FIFA to “fulfil its responsibility to respect human rights”.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Rajoub called on FIFA to “apply the statutes with fairness, with logic.”

“What’s going on in Palestine is terrible, destroying all the Palestinian sport facilities in Gaza, the killings of hundreds of Palestinian athletes, employees... I think it’s now the time to make justice,” Rajoub said.

“The guy who spoke on behalf of Israel, he did not even pay attention to the suffering, to what’s going on.

“I refused to shake hands. How can I shake hands or have a photo with such a man?”

Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2026