Rajoub Lobbies Ministry Of Magic To Expel Israel From Quidditch Games

Through connections with his friend Lucius Malfoy, Rajoub has the ear of several important Ministry of Magic figures.

Ramallah, May 28 – Fresh from efforts to have FIFA members vote to exclude Israel from international football competition, Palestinian Minister of Sport has continued to use his office to create pressure on Israel in the sports world, this time attempting to convince authorities to ban Israel from Quidditch competitions.

Rajoub has lobbied FIFA delegates intensively over the last several months in an effort to have Israel barred from FIFA events on grounds of violating Palestinian players’ rights. Israel denies any such policy, and accuses Rajoub and the Palestinian Authority of turning the sport into a political tool. Not content to restrict the isolation campaign to the Muggle world’s most popular sport, the minister has now met with several high-ranking Ministry of Magic officials to argue for Israel’s exclusion from the broom-mounted pastime of the wizarding community.

Israel has never fared well in international Quidditch play, but the move would carry immense political and diplomatic significance. Israeli sports officials have remained silent on the matter so far, but newly appointed Minister of Culture and Sport Miri Regev may no longer be able to publicly ignore the threat.

Until now, say analysts, refusing to give the Palestinian Quidditch boycott campaign any public attention has been the preferred approach, as it was assumed that reacting to it too soon would paint Israel as feeling threatened, and encourage further boycott campaigns of the same nature. However, the official silence failed to discourage Rajoub, who, through connections with his friend Lucius Malfoy, has the ear of several important Ministry of Magic figures.

A spokesman for the Israeli Ministry of Culture and Sport declined to elaborate on any steps Israel has taken, or will take, to counter Rajoub’s lobbying efforts. “We’re not very active in Quidditch, really,” said Arthur Wiesel. “Last time our national team played a match with an overseas club was eight years ago, and they got absolutely slaughtered by, of all teams, the Chudley Cannons. Frankly, I’d welcome a ban from Quidditch competitions. It would save us a lot of humiliation.” He noted, however, that even exclusion from a relatively minor sports association such as Quidditch would have negative diplomatic, political, and psychological repercussions.

Quidditch has never reached the same level of popularity in Israel as elsewhere, but several famous players have come from there. Perhaps the most prominent was Viktor Frum, who played on the pre-state squad as Seeker. As captain, he led the mostly-Jewish Palestine team nearly to a regional title in 1937, and drew large crowds in exhibition games against local squads across interwar Europe. Ironically, in recent years Palestinians have attempted to point to the existence of a “Palestine” Quidditch team as evidence that such an Arab country preexisted Israel, either ignoring or obfuscating the use of the term as a geographical, rather than political, description, and the team’s primarily Jewish composition.

The success of the current Palestinian endeavor to have Israel banned from Quidditch is not a foregone conclusion, despite the apparently lackluster Israeli effort to counter the move. At press time, the Wizengamot had staged a last-minute transfer of venue, allegedly to prevent certain witnesses from locating the proceedings in time.