RAMALLAH: The Chief of Palestine Football Association (FA) expressed his anger against Argentina striker Lionel Messi for opting to play against Israel in Jerusalem the following weekend.
He asked fans to burn Messi’s pictures and replicas of his shirt in protest.
Palestinians are criticising the Argentine for his upcoming World Cup warm-up match that he will play at Teddy Kollek Stadium on Saturday night as Messi’s presence will be surely attracting a huge Israeli crowd in stadium.
The match was originally to be played in Haifa but Israeli authorities’ funding approach made to shift it to Jerusalem; this irked Palestinians further as U.S President Donald Trump already has recognised the city as Israel’s capital; furthermore U.S embassy was also moved there last month.
The Palestinians want the eastern part of the city as the capital of a future state that will include the Gaza Strip and the Israeli-occupied West Bank while the match will be hosted in western Jerusalem.
“The Israeli government has turned a regular sports match into a political tool. As was widely covered in Argentinian media, the match now is being played in order to celebrate the ‘70th anniversary of the State of Israel’,” part of Rajoub’s letter said.
Rajoub declared a campaign on Sunday against Argentina and particularly Messi, keeping in view that he has millions of fans across the Arab and Islamic world.