It seems that the United States just can’t prevent itself from protecting Apartheid Israel. Just when it seemed that even U.S. government opinion was turning, the U.S. decided to arrest several members of FIFA (The Fédération Internationale de Football Association; English: International Federation of Association Football or International Federation of Soccer) the day before FIFA was to vote on expelling Israel. The Palestinian Football Association (PFA) had made the request for the vote, based on several Israeli violations of the FIFA charter. These include the following:
* Restricting the movement of Palestinian players, thus preventing them from participating in soccer games;
* Preventing the establishment of Palestinian soccer clubs in East Jerusalem;
* Refusing to issue necessary permits for foreign delegations visits;
* Operating Israeli soccer teams in the occupied West Bank, in violation not only of FIFA rules, but international law as well.
Disabling two promising young Palestinian soccer players, Jawhar Nasser Jawhar, age 19, and Adam Abd Al-Raouf Halabiya, age 17. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) terrorists shot them multiple times in the feet as they walked home from soccer practice on January 31, 2014. Mr. Jawhar was shot in the feet ten times; Mr. Halabiya, once in each foot. They are lucky they can walk; they will never be able to play soccer again.
The rampant corruption of the FIFA is legendary, yet it remains the most viable and, for some reasons, prestigious, soccer association in the world. The expulsion of Israel would send a worldwide message, one that apparently the U.S. isn’t quite ready for the world to hear. What better way to derail it than by arresting several high-ranking FIFA executives, avoiding the vote and the most unpleasant news headlines it might have generated? All FIFA news now will be on the arrests, and that news will fade quickly; few people really care enough to pay attention. But Israel can breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that it once again, thanks to its mentor, dodged another international bullet in its reputation.