by Rafael Medoff

US officials say they are planning to bar antisemitic agitators from attending the World Cup soccer matches that will take place in the United States, Canada, and Mexico this summer.

Those facing a ban could include the participants in the antisemitic soccer riots in Amsterdam in November 2024, and those who blocked Israelis from attending a soccer match in England in September 2025.

Another name that should be high on the banned list is the president of the Palestinian Football [Soccer] Association, Jibril Rajoub. He is a convicted terrorist who spent 15 years in prison but clearly never changed his hateful ways, because in 2018, FIFA (the International Federation of Association Football—which is in charge of the World Cup) suspended Rajoub for a year for inciting hatred and violence against an Argentinian soccer player who interacted with Israelis.

Rajoub has continued his incitement and support for violence in recent years. He publicly praised the Hamas mass murders and gang-rapes of October 7 as “acts of heroism” and “our war of defense against the occupation.”

Not only that, but Rajoub says openly that he considers sports to be a vehicle for waging war against Israel. He has pledged that “Palestinian sports will continue to be a means of struggle and a platform to sound the Palestinian people’s voice and expose the occupation’s crimes,” the official PA daily newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida reported on July 7, 2025.

(Translation courtesy of Palestinian Media Watch.)

Keeping out haters such as Rajoub is important. Foreign antisemites and champions of violence need to know they are not welcome in the United States. But what about foreign governments that promote antisemitism? Why should they be treated any differently from individual haters?

The US State Department’s most recent report on human rights around the world identifies several regimes that actively spread antisemitism as a matter of policy.

Regarding the Palestinian Authority, the State Department found that “Antisemitism, including expressions of longing for a world without Israel and glorification of terror attacks on both Israelis and Jews, [were] regularly featured in public discourse, [and] was repeatedly broadcast on official media…Some Palestinian and Muslim religious leaders used antisemitic rhetoric, including Holocaust denial.”

The report also noted that according to experts who have analyzed the PA’s school books, “there was problematic content in PA textbooks…such as antisemitic content, incitement to violence directed against Israel, and the glorification of terrorism.”

Jordan’s promotion of antisemitism is also a severe problem, the State Department found. “Antisemitic rhetoric and tropes were prevalent in local [Jordanian government-controlled] media throughout the year,” according to the report. “The national school curriculum, including materials on tolerance education, did not mention the Holocaust and used antisemitic tropes,” and “Antisemitic hate speech proliferated in the country on social media, in public and private schools.”

As for Qatar, “Cartoons, opinion articles, and certain news coverage in local [government-controlled] newspapers and other regional media outlets periodically carried antisemitic content,” the State Department reported.

Over the years, a number of countries have been banned from participating in the World Cup games for various reasons. South Africa was barred from 1970 to 1990 because of its apartheid policies. Yugoslavia was kept out in 1994 due to its aggression and human rights atrocities against Bosnia and Croatia. Russia has been banned since 2022 because of its invasion of Ukraine.

Regimes that promote anti-Jewish incitement should be considered in the same light. Such hate-mongering has consequences. The antisemitism and glorification of violence in the Palestinian Authority’s media and school books have helped inspired anti-Israel violence.

All October 7 terrorists who were in their 20s—which was the vast majority of them—were educated in Gaza schools run by the PA. That’s where they were taught to hate Jews and idolize mass murderers.

Our nation’s leaders should exclude those whose behavior violates America’s fundamental moral values. That will send a message to athletes and aspiring athletes around the world that the United States rejects bigotry.

But closing America’s doors to individual antisemitic soccer fans and officials such as Jibril Rajoub is not enough. Entire regimes that promote antisemitic hatred are even more dangerous. Indeed, Rajoub himself is a minister in the PA cabinet, and the PA fully supports his vicious agenda. It devotes its manpower and financial resources to raising generations of young people to hate and kill.

Barring regimes that incite anti-Jewish violence, just like barring regimes that practice racism, military aggression, or ethnic cleansing, simply is the right thing to do.

First published in the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles

Dr. Medoff is director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, and the author of more than 20 books about Jewish history, Zionism, and the Holocaust. Follow him on Facebook to read his daily commentaries on the news.