Michel Platini announced that Israel's hosting of the European Under-21 Championship should be awarded 9.5 out of 10, "because perfection does not exist in life."
But Platini added that "this tournament has been wonderfully organised" and he was clearly a very chuffed fat little Frenchman at the end of the competition.
Several years earlier, Platini had been to Palestine to witness the impacts of fascistic oppression in the Occupied Territories and in the Gaza Strip.
He said that he would carry the Palestinian cause and advocate against such oppression of the Palestinian people.
Mahmoud Sarsak, the Palestinian international footballer who was imprisoned illegally by the Zionist state for three years comments in an interview with James Montague: "Two years later he completely changed his mind by giving Israel a present on a platter of gold with the honour of hosting the tournament. It violates UEFA's own statutes that a tournament can not take place on disputed or occupied land. It is complete hypocrisy."
And just in case you haven't heard the story about how this fascistic regime operates towards Palestinian sportsmen and women, in his own words, this is what happened to Mahmoud: "We went into the Erez Crossing and waited for one and a half hours with other people, then a woman soldier and officer said I should go for an investigation... They ask you to turn into an informer or humiliate you. It is a process of humiliation to break the Palestinians. They say they won't let you cross until you work with us. I was surprised when my hands and legs were chained immediately... They put big black glasses on my eyes so that I couldn't see and took me, with chained arms and legs, to what felt like a bunker underground."
After interrogation, Mahmoud was put in a jeep. "Throughout the journey I was harassed, brutalised, hit on the head with guns. They took me to an army centre and called my brother and told him I was in prison. I spent 45 days there and saw death many times. A human being is being kept in a place not suitable for an animal. It is a two metre by two metre bunker. Damp. No sun, no air... At first I had 18 days investigation. I was chained to a chair... I was not allowed to sleep for 18 days. I was beaten up, humiliated. I was put in a fridge and almost froze to death and then straight from there to the hospital... Every time you go through these cycles you feel like you are going to die. Many Palestinian prisoners have not survived these conditions. Many lose their vision, their hearing, and their health deteriorates because of the violent acts in prison. No Palestinian that goes through prison ever comes out completely healthy. Either physically or psychologically."
Denied access to a lawyer, Mahmoud went on hunger strike and lost half his body weight and almost died as "it was either live in dignity or we are buried underground."
And all because he was trying to enter the West Bank to play football legally.
I guess perfection does not exist in life.
Michel Platini, corrupted by power and money...
... a worthy successor to Sepp Blatter and the FIFA Football Family.
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