Jibril Rajoub, secretary-general of the Fatah Central Committee, said in an Aug. 6, 2024, interview with Mayadeen TV (Lebanon) that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is a “pragmatic, patriotic, and realistic man” and that Israel is attempting to demonize him.
Rajoub, who is also president of the Palestinian Football Association and chairman of the Palestine Olympic Committee, added that Israel is also demonizing Iran and preventing it from being admitted into international society. Israel’s “unilateral attacks” on “Palestine,” Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Iran and the whole world are threatening the stability of the region and world peace, he said.
On Aug. 6, it was announced that Sinwar, Hamas’s leader in Gaza, would replace Ismail Haniyeh as Hamas political leader, after the latter’s assassination in Tehran in late July.
Rajoub: “I have personally known the brother and leader Abu Ibrahim [Sinwar] to be a pragmatic, patriotic and realistic man with whom it is possible to strike a [Fatah-Hamas] deal of national compromise. For him, this has been a matter of principle throughout the years when we had direct friction with them.”
In May, Foreign Minister Israel Katz threatened to revoke Rajoub’s travel pass after he demanded the Jewish state be banned from international soccer competitions due to the war against Hamas in Gaza.
“Jibril Rajoub, a terrorist in a suit who openly supported Hamas’s crimes, is working around the clock to get Israel removed from the international soccer association,” tweeted Katz, tagging FIFA.
“We will work to thwart his plans, and if he doesn’t stop—we will imprison him in the Muqata’a [presidential compound in Ramallah], where he will be left to play Stanga by himself between the walls,” added Katz, referring to a soccer-like game popular with Israeli children.
In late November, Rajoub expressed support for the Hamas-led Oct. 7 massacre and warned of a similar attack in Judea and Samaria.
“What happened on October 7 was a natural reaction to oppression. Those who rule Israel are an example of neo-Nazis. The fascist occupation [i.e. Israel] sinks in its own swamp. October 7 should be a turning point in our treatment of the occupation and its crimes,” he told Egypt’s MBC News.
The same month, Rajoub said that Hamas’s massacre of some 1,200 Israelis was carried out “in the context of the defensive war our people are waging.”
The original report can be viewed at MEMRI.
