'Inciting hatred' against Messi sees Palestine FA president's appeal rejected by Court of Arbitration for Sport

BetOdds Argentina Barcelona Friendlies Israel Palestine Lionel Messi

Jibril Rajoub has been found to have "incited hatred and violence" against the Barcelona star after CAS rejected his appeal against a 12-month ban

The Court of Arbitration for Sport has rejected the Palestine Football Association president's appeal against a 12-month ban for "inciting hatred and violence" against Lionel Messi.

Ahead of Argentina's scheduled pre-World Cup friendly against Israel in June 2018, Jibril Rajoub spoke outÂ about the match amid the conflict and political tension between Israelis and Palestinians.

The match was due to take place in Teddy Stadium, Jerusalem, a ground built on land said to have belonged to a Palestinian village before its destruction in 1948.

Rajoub urged fans to target Messi and incited them to burnÂ shirts bearing the Barcelona star's name.

He said: "He's a big symbol so we are going to target him personally and we call on all to burn his picture and his shirt and to abandon him.

"We still hope that Messi will not come."

The match was ultimately cancelled.

The Israel embassy took decisive action, saying in a statement at the time: "The Israeli embassy is sad to announce the suspension of the match between the Israel and Argentina national teams scheduled for Saturday June 9, as a warm-up for theÂ RussiaÂ World Cup.

â€œThe threats and provocations directed at Lionel Messi, which logically aroused the solidarity of his colleagues and fear of playing the friendly, are no strangers to the daily life of Israel's civilian population whose sporting stars, to put it simply, have been on numerous occasions the targets of violence and attacks.

"The friendship between Argentina and Israel, which will soon celebrate its 70th anniversary, is not about a football match. The democratic country and plural state (composed of Jews, Muslims and Christians), will always eagerly await the chance to receive one of the stars of Argentine sport."

FIFA received a complaint from the Israeli Football Association and Rajoub was given a 12-month ban from all matches at any level until August 23, 2019, while also being fined 20,000 Swiss francs (â‚¬18,056).

His appeal to FIFA was rejected in September, two months before he raised the case with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Rajoub has again been unsuccessful in fighting the punishment, with the CAS panel adjudging him to have "failed to establish that any procedural violations were committed in the proceedings before the FIFA disciplinary committee... Â that could justify the annulment of such decisions".

CAS, in itsÂ statement, added: "Accordingly, the CAS panel dismissed the appeal and confirmed FIFA appeal committeeÂ decision of 24 September 2018."

2019-07-19 10:00:03

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