Jibril Rajoub is being described as a “Palestinian”(Arab) soccer official denied U.S. entry for the World Cup. That framing leaves out the most important part of his record.
Rajoub was convicted in Israel for a 1970 grenade attack on an Israeli army bus near Hebron and sentenced to life in prison. He was later released in a prisoner exchange before becoming one of the most prominent Arab political figures operating inside international football.
This is also the same “Palestinian”(Arab) Football Association chief who refused to shake hands with Israel Football Association Vice President Basim Sheikh Suliman at the FIFA Congress in Vancouver on April 30, after FIFA President Gianni Infantino tried to bring the two officials together. Rajoub has spent years using international sport as another arena for political warfare against Israel.
The U.S. has not publicly stated the specific reason for denying his visa, and that distinction matters. But the coverage should not sanitize who he is by reducing him to a sports administrator.
A man convicted in an attack on Israeli soldiers should not be laundered through the language of sport, diplomacy, or victimhood. If international institutions are going to treat figures like Rajoub as legitimate representatives, the public deserves to know the record they are choosing to overlook.