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Efforts to harm Israel will "destroy" FIFA: Netanyahu

Xinhua, May 29, 2015 Adjust font size:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday warned that ousting Israel from FIFA would bring to the "collapse" of the governing body of world football.

Israeli officials are in a last-minute lobbying efforts to block a vote on a Palestinian bid to suspend Israel from international football. The vote is slated to be held Friday at FIFA's Congress in Zurich.

"The attempt to hurt Israel will destroy FIFA," Netanyahu told journalists at his Tel Aviv office.

"If you start with one country, then you move to another, and that would spell the end of this organization (FIFA)," said Netanyahu.

He also noted his meeting in Jerusalem last week with FIFA President Sepp Blatter, who oppose the move to expel Israel. "I told Blatter that if he will allow suspending Israel, it will pave the way for the collapsing of FIFA," Netanyahu added.

President of the Israel Football Association, Ofer Eini, who is Zurich campaigning against the Palestinian bid, told Israel's Channel 10 TV news that Israel "trust UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) to block the Palestinian proposal."

However, he noted that the vote comes as FIFA is entangled in a corruption scandal and amidst calls for Blatter's resignation. "We have his word, but the latest developments complicate the situation," he said.

The vote was proposed by the Palestine Football Association ( PFA), which seeks to sanction Israel for restrictions it put on Palestinian athletes.

PFA accuses Israel of restricting access of Palestinian football players from Gaza and the West Bank.

PFA chief Jibril Rajoub told the Palestinian news agency WAFA that "while Israel continues to participate in FIFA matches internationally with impunity, Palestinian football players have been shot and arrested, our football association raided by Israeli army forces, our clubs more often than not forbidden from bringing players, coaches or even materials from abroad, just as the restriction of movement imposed on our players and technical staff, within, from and to Palestine have turned the game into a real act of resistance." Endite