Sources in Kan, Israel’s Public Broadcasting Corporation say that the contract it signed with the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) states that the rights will be valid only inside “green line Israel” and not the “Palestinian territories,” which include Judea and Samaria, with their abundance of Israeli settlements, and the Gaza Strip, where a perfect Judenrein was attained in 2005. UEFA did not clarify whether the forbidden broadcasting zone included eastern Jerusalem.
According to a report in Yedioth Aharonoth on Sunday, in November 2017, Kan agreed to pay about five million euros (about $ 5.76 million) for the rights, which were auctioned by UEFA through the American company CAA Eleven.
Founded in June 2012, CAA Eleven was formed by CAA Sports, a division of the world’s leading entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA).
Sources in Kan explained that a Qatari company acquired the broadcasting rights for the Middle East and North Africa, including what CAA Eleven defines as “the Palestinian territories.” This means that the entire pre-1967 area is being served by the Qataris, which means that an Israeli signal reaching, say, the city of Ariel, in Samaria, or Maale Adumim in Judea, would violate the Kan contract.
The Israeli broadcaster has informed both UEFA and CAA Eleven that its feed to the settlements does not constitute a violation of the Qatari company’s turf, since the games are not being broadcast via the airwaves but through Israeli cable companies – the way Kan handled last summer’s World Cup games.
The Kan case should be supported by the fact that Qatar does not at the moment offer cable services to the Jews of Judea and Samaria.
Kan has not commented on the report.
