[ April 22, 2024 ]
On June 5, the Argentinean soccer club, headed by its star Lionel Messi, had planned to play an Israeli team, a friendly, in Jerusalem. The Israelis were, of course, pleased; the game was sold out. It had originally been scheduled to be played in Haifa, but the Israelis decided to move it to Jerusalem. At that point, the “Palestinians” applied what was described in many accounts as “pressure” on the Argentinians, or — as did the New York Times — as “protests,” to cancel the match.
And that is what the Argentinians did — they canceled the match. But it was not because of “protests” or unspecified “pressure.” It was much more than that.
A little background may help.
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The star of the Argentine team is Lionel Messi, who by all reports happens to be a philo-semite and admirer of Israel. Lionel Messi traveled to Israel in 2013 with the Spanish Football Club Barcelona as part of the team’s “peace tour”’; in 2011, he participated in a campaign for justice and memory of the victims of the 1994 Jewish center bombing in Buenos Aires. More piquant still, as a child of nine, and suffering from a growth hormone deficiency, Lionel Messi was successfully treated by a Jewish doctor in Barcelona, Dr. Diego Schwartzstein, and grew to be — as he told Dr Schwarzstein he wanted to — “taller” than his hero, the celebrated Argentinean soccer star Diego Maradona. What role this Jewish doctor played in the sympathetic interest Messi has taken in Jewish and Israeli matters is anyone’s guess. As the superstar and head of the Argentinian team, Messi was happy to agree to the friendly to be held in Israel.
Messi has infuriated the Arabs before. Some years ago he was photographed, yarmulke on bowed head, at the Western Wall. This enraged the Arabs, who seem to be perennially in a rage, but when it comes to Messi, they are perhaps even more enraged than is usual. The protests against Messi have reached new heights of absurdity. When he named his second son “Benjamin,” there were complaints from Arabs that he had chosen a “Jewish name” — the same, it was pointed out, as that of Prime Minister Netanyahu! — and calls for him to change his baby’s name. There were even calls in Algeria for a “boycott” of Messi for choosing such a name for his son. Messi did not change his son’s name, and no boycott ensued. And come to think of it, how would Algeria have “boycotted” Messi?
When the Argentine-Israel match was cancelled, many newspapers in the West reported the story of the canceled match in a curious way. First, they tried to make the Israelis seem unforgivably pushy in wanting to hold the match in Jerusalem. The New York Times headlined its story “Argentina-Israel Soccer Match Cancelled Over Jerusalem.” The Israelis, it was made to appear, were being unforgivably aggressive in wanting to hold the match in Jerusalem, as it had originally been scheduled for Haifa. But was that such an outrageous request? Why shouldn’t Israel, as part of observing its 70th anniversary, not be allowed to hold a soccer match in its capital? No, Israel was of course at fault. Israel, for the New York Times and many others, is always at fault. Imagine Israelis wanting to hold a soccer match in their capital! Unforgivable.
The mainstream media also reported on “pressure” from the “Palestinians.” That’s a most understated way to describe the unambiguous death threats against Lionel Messi and his family. Why didn’t the major papers carry the real story, under the real headline: “Palestinians make threats to kill Lionel Messi, his family, and other players”? That would have conveyed, instead of hiding, the horrific truth.
And Lionel Messi, as well as the rest of us, deserves to have the truth of what constitutes “pressure” from the “Palestinians” made clear. You can blame Lionel Messi if you believe he succumbed to mere “pressure” — angry letters to the editor, refusals to buy jerseys with the Argentinean team’s logo or Messi’s number, all that sort of thing — but you cannot blame him for not wanting to take chances when he, his wife, his children, and his teammates are being threatened with death. What the coverage ought to have focused on was not the change in the venue for the Argentina-Israel friendly game from Haifa to Jerusalem (with the blaming-the-victim slant — that the Israelis were unreasonable in their request), but on the precise nature of the threats made against Messi and his family, rather than, as happens too often in the media, referring merely to “pressure” or, in some cases, to “pressure and threats” (which still leaves unstated the grave nature of those threats).
The “Palestinians” were well-pleased with the result. In the topsy-turvy world of “Palestinian” morality, it was the Israelis who were “using” the Argentinians, and the Argentinians who demonstrated a higher morality in cancelling the game: “The Israelis tried to use Messi and those stars from Argentina, and I would like to thank them and appreciate their decision, which I think was on the right track,” Palestinian Football Association President Jibril Rajoub told a news conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
“At the entrance to the news conference was a placard saying “From Palestine, thank you Messi” with Argentinian and Palestinian flags, under a big photo of Rajoub posing with the Barcelona ace.
“It was a change of tone from Rajoub, who had called for Palestinians to burn replica Messi shirts and photos if the Argentinian played in Jerusalem.
Israel‘s Football Association accused the Palestinians of crossing a “red line” by inciting anger towards the Argentinian players in order to scupper the match. It said it would complain to soccer world governing body FIFA about Rajoub’s comments, which it described as “physical and brutal threats.”
“Physical and brutal threats” indeed, from Rajoub, but that was hardly the worst of it, which is why Israel must demand a full investigation by FIFA of all threats from the Arabs that led to the cancellation. Those threats, that came not from Rajoub but from ordinary “Palestinians,” were death threats — threats to kill Messi, his wife and two small children, and other players too. And that should have been the headline everywhere: “With Lionel Messi, his family, and other players under death threat from Palestinians, Argentinean team cancels match.”
That would have left quite a different impression on the world, one which would let everyone know the depth of depravity of the enemy Israelis face, every single day.
The Truth Must be Told
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38 Comments
5 years ago
Dear Pamela Geller. Your intrusive pop up ads make your site unusable for me. I’m done.
5 years ago
Reply to
Ron Green
A pity, Ron- I share your frustration, albeit not to the extent you do. There’s a lot here to like, along with the usual complement of crapola, most of it coming from the local goon squad.. But for better or worse, the Internet is funded by advertising.
5 years ago
Reply to
Liatris Spicata
When you, litty spittoon, reference “goon squad”, are you pointing out the one woman, guttersnipe goon squad? The blithering idiot’s blithering idiot, with an intellect FAR below that of an aphid? You have NO idea how many people laugh AT you. You poor, pitiable little creature.
5 years ago
Reply to
Ron Green
No anger at all, Roni. You have no idea how many people get their daily dose of laughter, laughing AT litty. You seem to have a major problem jumping to false conclusions. There is help available for that.
5 years ago
Reply to
Achmed Mohandjob
Sweet. If that’s you normal, I’m sure it’s fun to see you angry.
5 years ago
Reply to
Ron Green
Poor little dear. What, within the entirety of that post, could anyone with one jot or tittle of a rational mind, find of anger? You poor dear, there is help available for your type. It may be hard work, but in decades, it will be worth it.
5 years ago
Reply to
Achmed Mohandjob
OK sweetie. If you insist you’re not angry, I’ll take your word. Didn’t mean to get you so riled up. I can see you are just showcasing your intellect and wit. My mistake.
5 years ago
Reply to
Ron Green
Roni, you poor little dear. Why do you insist upon HUMILIATING yourself? Are you desirous of having people laugh AT you, as they do litty? There is help available. Take advantage of it. It will be a hard go, however, years from now you will thank me.
5 years ago
Reply to
Ron Green
Oh, roni, roni, roni …. You “upvote” YOURSELF! TOO funny. Simply hilarious. You truly MUST love humiliating yourself. You poor little dear.
5 years ago
Reply to
Liatris Spicata
What would happen to the ‘goon squad’ in any of your lovely islamic states? An invitation to an organised, peaceful debate on the nature of islum? Incarceration? Slaughter? Please enlighten me oh learned scribe of hypocrisy.
5 years ago
Reply to
Ron Green
For anyone else having this problem, there are ad blockers available. https://www.google.com/search?q=ad%20blocker
5 years ago
Reply to
livingengine
Thanks. I use them. I still get things popping up in the middle of articles & corners of pages.
5 years ago
Reply to
Ron Green
I don’t have this problem. I think my ad blocker is part of my anti-virus. I do have to pay for it, though.
5 years ago
Reply to
Ron Green
You could just use the Disqus forum directly if you want:
https://disqus.com/home/forum/atlusshrugs/
5 years ago
Reply to
Ron Green
I have been visiting this site for years and never get pop-up adds? I think you should clean out your cookie files, that what causes them.
5 years ago
Reply to
Ron Green
I downloaded an adblocker of off Firefox and I haven’t seen a pop-up on here since
5 years ago
Reply to
felix1999
Did you notice that roni, poor little dear, upvotes herself? She must truly love humiliating herself.
5 years ago
Textbook definition of Terrorism
It is the use of violence or threat of violence in the pursuit of political, religious, ideological or social objectives.
5 years ago
Reply to
Halal Bacon
Agree. while Left/Libs welcome jihadis and run around like cowards after they start committing gang rapes, assaults.
Here’s one such woman from Germany who was brutally murdered https://tinyurl.com/yad8pdug
5 years ago
Reply to
Halal Bacon
Israel’s land
It’s Israel land Muslims hate everyone even their own
Here are Quotes from the Bible
“Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; I will even gather you from the people,
and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.
Ezekiel 11:17
“And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered,with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out.”
Ezekiel 20:34
“And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries,
and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country.”
Ezekiel 34;13
“For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.”
Ezekiel 36:34
“And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen,whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:”
Ezekiel 37:21
5 years ago
Palestinians are too violent to be part of the civilized world. They will be removed from it.
5 years ago
Reply to
Mahou Shoujo
Actually, ALL Muslims are too violent to be part of the civilized world!!!
5 years ago
Islam ruins everything.
5 years ago
If the Fakestinians put 1/10th of the passion they put into their ‘rage’ into making lives for themselves and their children they could have a real life worthy of respect. Ain’t going to happen.
5 years ago
Has Islam done anything but spread death and horror for the past 1400 years? Any “progress” they may have made was mostly stolen or appropriated from the many peoples and cultures they subjugated.
5 years ago
So … what you’re trying to tell me is that Islamic insanity stretches to Argentinian soccer?
When are we going to outlaw Islam?
5 years ago
Islam = Na zism x 1000
And some of you worry about offending Muslims?
You need to be worried about organizing a defense along the same lines used by previous ‘hopeless’ causes.
We have a determined enemy in both the Left and Islam with essentially unlimited resources – indeed they are funded by us, and we are their serfs.
But yet, you expend your time attacking your allies instead of sharing the message.
5 years ago
Instead of pandering to their feeling of “nationhood”, why don’t we refer to who and what they really are – Arabs?
“Palestinians” have a homeland, it’s called Jordan.
5 years ago
The trouble is, if you tell people this, they all say “Oh they always make threats, they don’t really mean it”…I’m considered Islamophobic for saying “They bloody DO MEAN IT”… and “BTW I am an Islamorealist”.
5 years ago
Western leaders are fully aware of Islams agenda of infiltration, divide and dominate.
Islam with its supremacist dictate is part of the overall Globalist agenda.
While authority pursues Globalization, Islam will be protected from those who seek to expose it for what it is
5 years ago
The leftist papers trying to portray Palestinians as refined men with a silly euphemism. Maybe if they said, WILD MEN pressured soccer player… we would really know what “pressure” meant.
5 years ago
I been threatened w/death, more than once. I know the sound of a passing bullet.I`ve been hunted. I am here. Those things always,ultimately made me extremely angry and determined. When a family member was mistreated,I reacted with extreme anger. I will consider all and any moslem I see , responsible if even just one of them harms my friend(s) or family. I`ve never seen or heard of a moslem condemning isis, moslem brotherhood,cair,etc.,etc..
5 years ago
I thought the liberals in this country complained about everything, but the arabs have them beat. Upset enough to issue death threats because he named his son Benjamin? Seriously? The fact that the rest of the world accepts this crap from the arabs is even bigger bullshit. What is it with this overall hatred for everything Israel and Jewish? I read it everywhere. I hear they control the world. Really?
