Fifa Congress: Infantino tried to stage an Israel-Palestine handshake. He failed
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Dalia Anis
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Fri, 05/01/2026 - 11:33
'I cannot shake the hand of someone the Israelis have brought to whitewash their fascism and genocide,' the Palestinian Football Association chief reportedly said
Fifa President Gianni Infantino clasps hands with the president of the Palestinian Football Association, Jibril Rajoub, as the vice president of the Israel Football Association, Basim Sheikh Suliman, looks on during a heated moment in the 76th Fifa Congress in Vancouver, Canada, on 30 April 2026 (Don Mackinnon/AFP)
Off
The president of the Palestinian Football Association declined to be photographed alongside the vice president of the Israel Football Association after Fifa President Gianni Infantino attempted to orchestrate a handshake between the two representatives.
Infantino had invited both men onstage and gestured to Jibril Rajoub, the Palestinian representative, to move closer to his Israeli counterpart, Basim Sheikh Suliman, at the international football body's gathering in Vancouver on Thursday.
“We are suffering,” Rajoub exclaimed after a brief exchange with Infantino, ending the heated stand-off and departing from the stage, though not before an amicable hug with the Fifa chief.
Infantino then announced he would be running for re-election for a third term next year, telling delegates: "We will work together, President Rajoub, Vice President Suliman. Let's work together to give hope to the children. These are complex matters."
Palestinian FA Vice President Susan Shalabi later told Reuters that Rajoub had said that he "cannot shake the hand of someone the Israelis have brought to whitewash their fascism and genocide" during his exchange with Infantino.
Earlier, Rajoub had addressed the Congress, using his speech time to criticise Fifa’s decision not to sanction Israel over football clubs based in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.
“To be put in a position where to have a handshake after everything that was said, this negates the whole purpose of the speech that the general [Rajoub] was giving,” said Shalabi.
“He spent like 15 minutes trying to explain to everyone how the rules matter, how this could easily become a precedent where the rights of member associations are violated with impudence, and then we’ll just wrap this under the carpet. It was absurd."
'Tone deaf'
Later commenting on the incident, Rajoub, a Fatah politician who has been detained on numerous occasions by Israel, acknowledged the importance of sportsmanship, but said: “If the other side is representing a criminal like Bibi [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] and speaking on behalf of Bibi as if Bibi is Mother Teresa, how can I shake hands or have a photo with such a man?”
“How can I shake hands or have a photo with such a man?”
Palestinian FA president Jibril Rajoub, who refused to shake hands with Israel’s football official during the Fifa Congress in Vancouver, said he can’t shake hands with someone who “is representing a criminal like Bibi” pic.twitter.com/Gv5tVSuTfi
— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) May 1, 2026
Online, people had little patience for Infantino’s move, calling it "tone deaf" and "evil".
"Why can’t they just get along…..with genocide, apartheid, and an ever expanding occupation?" asked Amnesty UK's Kristyan Benedict in a sarcastic post on X.
“Gianni Infantino treating genocide like it can be solved with a handshake and a camera,” said sports journalist Leyla Hamed.
Gianni Infantino treating genocide like it can be solved with a handshake and a camera.
There’s something deeply unsettling about seeing such horror reduced to nothing more than optics. https://t.co/3PJ7E5zweI
— Leyla Hamed (@leylahamed) April 30, 2026
Others have slammed it as failed soccer diplomacy and accused Infantino of trying to boost his profile with a political stunt that would cast him as a peacemaker.
Infantino is “dreaming of the Nobel Peace Prize himself”, said sports journalist Romain Molina in response to the incident.
Rêvant lui aussi du Prix Nobel de la Paix, Infantino a voulu mettre en scène une poignée de main entre la fédération israélienne et palestinienne lors du Congrès annuel de la FIFA
Echec complet de sa "diplomatie foot" et énervement du président palestinien, Jibril Rajoub pic.twitter.com/gYuUGKntfT
— Romain Molina (@Romain_Molina) April 30, 2026
Translated: Dreaming of the Nobel Peace Prize himself, Infantino sought to stage a handshake between the Israeli and Palestinian federations at the Fifa annual Congress
Complete failure of his "soccer diplomacy" and irritation from the Palestinian president, Jibril Rajoub
This is not the first time Infantino has been at the centre of criticism related to Israel's genocide in Gaza.
UN experts and activists have repeatedly called for Fifa to suspend Israel from the body over its war on the Palestinian enclave, as it did with Russia after it invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Infantino was also slammed for presenting the first-ever Fifa Peace Prize to US President Donald Trump at the World Cup draw in December, in an event the football federation insisted was apolitical.
Human rights groups and activists have widely condemned the awarding of the prize to Trump.
The Norwegian Football Federation on Monday called for Fifa to abolish it to avoid being drawn into politics.
Australian footballer Jackson Irvine said football’s credibility as a "force for good" has been undermined by Fifa.
“As an organisation, you would have to say decisions like the one that we saw awarding this peace prize make a mockery of what they’re trying to do with the human rights charter,” he told Reuters.
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