An image of the West Bank security wall tweeted by international soccer federation FIFA on Dec. 9, 2019. Photo: Twitter screenshot.

The international soccer federation FIFA faced criticism on Monday after it published a pro-Palestinian tweet despite its usual policy of keeping politics out of sports.

The tweet contained an image from a series of photographs by Amelie Debray, showing the West Bank security barrier, built by Israel to thwart Palestinian terror attacks, covered in soccer-related graffiti.

“The script in this graffiti reads: ‘Freedom Through Football,’” said FIFA. “Together the photographs show football as a representation of life and freedom in Palestine.”

FIFA’s tweet was quickly called out by members of the pro-Israel online group DigiTell, organized by the Jewish state’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs to combat anti-Israel incitement on social media.

Ido Daniel, senior director for digital strategy at the Strategic Affairs Ministry, tweeted, “This is a very disturbing tweet @FIFAMuseum. This fence is there for a reason. The security barrier is a defensive measure built in 2002 to prevent Palestinian terrorists from reaching their civilian targets inside Israel. As a result, terrorist attacks dropped to almost zero.”

Another member, David Collier, tweeted, “Don’t mix politics with sport, they say. And YOU mix politics with sport. YOU! What an utterly reprehensible tweet. That security barrier saved Israeli lives and stopped terrorists slaughtering Israelis. You should delete that tweet.”

Shortly after, FIFA took down the offending tweet.

Daniel commented to Israeli news site Mako, “The power of the DigiTell network together with our partners among Israeli web users proved itself again. Tweets and posts that distort reality will receive a real-time response. This is the power of the network we have built.”