Israel Detains Two Members of the Palestinian Women’s Soccer Team
The Palestine Football Association has since called on FIFA to act, but there’s only been crickets.
Photo: Instagram/@sportingpalestine Sports Soccer
In largely ignored yet still alarming news, two past and present members of the Palestinian women’s soccer team were detained by Israel on Tuesday, in what the Palestine Football Association is openly calling an “unjust arrest.” The association’s since called on FIFA to act, but Gianni Infantino’s probably busy eating Trump’s ass ahead of the U.S. World Cup—so, alas, crickets!
20-year-old Rand Al Halawani, who currently plays for Palestine, and 21-year-old Natalie Abu Dayeh—who used to play for the national team and is now studying media and journalism at Birzeit University—were two of four people arrested by Israel this week. Abu Dayeh, along with the two others, were detained in a raid in a student accommodation on the West Bank, and according to the IDF, were accused of “promoting terrorist activities and additional terrorist-related activities”—though it’s not been clarified what said activities actually entail.
Al Halawani herself was detained after she was summoned to a police station in West Jerusalem, though an Israeli court order that was issued on Wednesday has since extended her detention until next Friday. The Jerusalem Electorate has not specified why she was summoned or arrested. The team, however, is scheduled to play Malaysia in a friendly game on Saturday.
In a statement, the PFA called the arrests “part of a well-documented pattern of systematic targeting of Palestinian athletes, which continues without accountability.”
Earlier this week, Musab Abu Salem—who plays for the Palestine Stars team—was also stopped at the border from traveling to Italy with the rest of his team, and was detained before he could participate in a game against the Napoli Stars—which was meant to be a solidarity and humanitarian match, in support of Palestinians.
The four students’ arrest also increases the number of Palestinian women currently in Israeli custody to 89—where advocates say they’re subject to starvation, inadequate health care, humiliating searches, and severe overcrowding. According to advocacy groups, the 89 also includes two women suffering from cancer, three minors, and three pregnant women.
“Palestinian athletes are routinely denied freedom of movement, safety, and the basic right to participate in sport under equal conditions, rights that FIFA explicitly guarantees to all players worldwide without discrimination,” wrote PFA in its statement. “The targeting of Palestinian athletes must end. The impunity must end. The double standards must end.”
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