FIFA's Disciplinary Committee came out hard against the president of the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) in a decision that might signal a shift in the Zurich-based organization. Despite technically being a sports-related decision, it is hard not to see the political implication of this decision and whether it reflects the divisions in the Arab world.

The 15-page decision taken on July 13 and emailed to the PFA on Aug. 24 slaps an immediate 12-month suspension on PFA president Jibril Rajoub. According to the decision, during the 12-month suspension “Mr. Rajoub will not be able to preside or act as an official during any match of any competition — be it domestic or international. In other words, Mr. Rajoub is not entitled to perform any activity other than the one that a regular spectator would be able to conduct during a match, i.e., attending it from the stands.”

FIFA also ordered Rajoub to pay a fine of 20,000 Swiss francs ($20,631); he also must pay 2,000 Swiss francs ($2,063) for costs of the proceedings.

Rajoub’s offense is the breach of Article 53 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code “for inciting hatred and violence during his statements of 3 June 2018 concerning the international friendly match initially scheduled to be played between the representative teams of Israel and Argentina on 9 June 2018.”