Palestinian FIFA bid stirs opposite reactions among Israelis

An aborted bid by the Palestinians to expel Israel from FIFA, the world soccer federation, has set off an uproar in Israel, raising fears that more such diplomatic assaults are on the way.
But some liberal Israelis are more accepting of the Palestinian move, seeing it as an unpleasant step that just might prod Israel onto a peace track.
Israelis are used to international outrage over their nearly 50-year control over the West Bank, the territory claimed by the Palestinians as the heartland of their future state.
But while UN condemnation and Washington and European admonitions of Israeli settlement construction are generally ignored, the threat of being kicked out of the world's pre-eminent sporting body has caught people's attention.

"We are in the midst of a great struggle being waged against the state of Israel, an international campaign to blacken its name," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his Cabinet this week. "It is not connected to our actions. It is connected to our very existence."
Netanyahu praised the Israeli effort that fended off the Palestinian attempt to kick it out of FIFA a battle that played out at last week's conference in Zurich, though it was overshadowed by the FIFA election and the scandal surrounding the soccer federation.

At the last minute, the Palestinians agreed to a compromise that averted a vote, but it came with a hefty price for Israel.

From now on, Israeli actions toward Palestinian soccer players, especially restrictions on their freedom of movement, will face international monitoring and in addition, Israeli teams based in West Bank settlements will be under scrutiny.
Emboldened by the gains, Palestinians are considering similar actions at the Olympics and in other international arenas.
For days, Israeli airwaves and newspapers have been filled with dire warnings that the FIFA bid is just the beginning of a massive anti-Israel action, all part of a broader Palestinian strategy to target Israel in international institutions such as the United Nations and International Criminal Court.
"The problem is not in the international institutions, but in the Israeli occupation," said Palestinian official Saeb Erekat. "What we are doing is just a means to end the Israeli occupation."

Many Israelis also see the FIFA spat as part of the broader "BDS" movement calling for boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel. Popular commentator Ben-Dror Yemini wrote in the Yediot Ahronot daily that fighting BDS is "a national interest" for Israel.