When Jibril Rajoub, a convicted Palestinian terrorist who spent 17 years in an Israeli jail for his crimes, and who is currently the head of the Palestinian Football Association, stood on stage at the recent FIFA Congress in Vancouver, refusing to shake the hands of Israel’s representative, it was a perfect encapsulation of decades of Palestinian intransigence and rejectionism towards Israel – where Israel’s overtures for peace were met with hatred.

But rather than providing readers with an accurate – albeit undoubtedly uncomfortable report for many – The Globe and Mail offered a highly sanitized version instead.

In the May 1 article, “FIFA congress in Vancouver exposes rifts weeks before Canada hosts World Cup,” Staff Reporter Andrea Woo wrote that “Palestinian soccer federation president Jibril Rajoub delivered an impassioned 20-minute speech urging FIFA to apply its own rules consistently, pointing to the governing body’s decision not to impose sanctions on Israel over its soccer clubs in the occupied West Bank.”

Woo’s use of the term “impassioned” frames Rajoub as little more than a powerful orator and enthusiastic advocate. In reality, he was convicted to life in prison for throwing a grenade at an army bus, and released from jail only as part of a prisoner exchange. He has relentlessly spread hatred and vitriol against Israel, calling them “Satan” and “Nazis,” and praising the October 7, 2023 massacres in southern Israel.

That did not stop Ottawa from granting him a visa to visit Canada.

Yet for reasons that only Woo could fathom, none of these details were included at all, and instead were hidden from public view.

Rajoub is not simply one individual with a murderous history; upon his release from prison, he was not confined to the margins of Palestinian society, but selected to represent the Palestinians in the international arena, giving him respect, cachet and credibility.

That decision speaks volumes about how Rajoub and other Palestinian terrorists are viewed in Palestinian society; not as outcasts or rejects, but as heroes to be venerated and respected.

Woo quotes Rajoub as saying, after he refused to shake the Israeli representative’s hands, “could I shake hands with someone representing a fascist and racist government and defending, even, the policies of this government?”

While it would not necessarily be clear to many readers based on his name, the Israeli representative is an Arab-Israeli named Basim Sheikh Suliman, who is a walking repudiation to claims that Israel is a “racist” and “fascist” country.

Yet the impression given to readers in Woo’s article is that there remains an impasse between Israelis and Palestinians, though not because of the latter’s repeated refusal to accept Israel’s right to exist or its refusal to abandon terrorism in its pursuit of the destruction of the Jewish State.

While Andrea Woo’s article in The Globe and Mail did not contain overt falsehoods, she nevertheless omitted enough critical facts about to render her report overwhelmingly misleading and falsely portray Israelis and Palestinians as equally obstinate partners, when in truth, the Palestinian leadership – typified by the convicted terrorist representing Palestinians in soccer tournaments around the world – is a microcosm of the problem.