Four football players from Hapoel Arraba from the Women's National League played this week for the Palestinian national team in a tournament held in Saudi Arabia.
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The Referees' Association plans to suspend referee Ayah Abed for participating on behalf of the Palestinian national team without requesting permission beforehand, as is required.
On Tuesday, while Arraba played against Hapoel Tel Aviv, four players - Elin Huri, Nadin Elias, Dima Al-Ramahi, and Ayah Abed - were included in the Palestinian squad, with which they won a 0-3 victory over Iraq in a friendly match in Jeddah. Abed, who previously served as an assistant referee in the Premier League and is now a regional referee, started in the Palestinian national team lineup.
The Referees' Association said in response: "Ayah Abed is indeed a player at Hapoel Arraba and a regional referee at the same time. In the past, she refereed in the Premier League, but due to various discipline problems and violations when she served as a player, she was only given permission to referee in regionals and play simultaneously, which is acceptable for women who have undergone a referee course. However, Abed did not explicitly request to play and therefore did not receive approval to play in the Palestinian national team."
"What she did in the past is irrelevant now. It should be stressed that she did not receive permission to play on the Palestinian national team while being a referee. On Sunday, Abed will receive an official notification from the association that, although she can play and referee for the Palestinian national team, she is no longer part of the Israeli Referee Association."
In November, Ataa Jaber, former captain of Israel's youth national team, played for the Palestinian national team against Lebanon. Before the game, a minute of silence was held "in solidarity with Palestine," during which Palestinian players took to the field with keffiyehs. Following this, Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar, appealed to the Interior Minister Moshe Arbel to revoke the player's citizenship.