Hamas, PA officials hail cancellation of Argentina soccer game in Jerusalem

The Hamas terrorist group and Palestinian Authority officials on Wednesday applauded the decision by Argentina’s national team to call off a friendly match in Jerusalem.

“Argentina’s decision to cancel a friendly match with the Israeli Occupation’s team is highly commendable and is a very appreciated position,” said senior Hamas official Husam Badran.

The Israeli embassy in Argentina earlier announced the “suspension” of Saturday’s sold-out game in Jerusalem because of what it called “threats and provocations” against Argentinian soccer superstar Lionel Messi. The Culture and Sports Ministry said last-ditch negotiations to salvage the Saturday night match was ongoing.

On Wednesday, the head of the Palestinian soccer organization Jibril Rajoub and senior PA official Saeb Erekat said Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev and Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman received their comeuppance with what they said was a cancellation.

“This decision well answers Ministers Miri Regev and Liberman, and other officials in the current extremist Israeli government, that the world will not submit to Israel’s state terrorism, extortion, threats, and intimidation, all fully backed by President Trump’s Administration,” said Erekat in a Wednesday statement.

Palestinian Football Federation chief Rajoub on Wednesday called a press conference in Ramallah to welcome the decision by the Argentinian team.

“What happened… is a red card from everybody to the Israelis,” Rajoub said, sitting next to a sign reading “From Palestine thank you Messi.”

Speaking in Arabic, Rajoub insisted the Palestinian objections to the game were only sparked by Regev’s demand the game be held in Jerusalem, rather than the original planned venue in Haifa.

Rajoub, who earlier in the week had urged Palestinians to burn photos and T-shirts of star player Messi if the game went ahead, said Regev and Israeli right-wing politicians got what they deserved.

He said the cancellation would send a message to others to oppose the “racist, fascist regime” like that of Regev and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Hadashot news television reported. He also called on Israelis not to mix sports and politics.

Earlier in the day, Rajoub said Palestinians only began to campaign against the match after Regev decided to move it to Jerusalem and “turn it into a political event.”

Although Israel sees all of Jerusalem as its capital city, Palestinians want the eastern part of the city as the capital of a future state. The soccer was supposed to have been held at the Teddy Stadium in the western Jerusalem neighborhood of Malha.

Several opposition Israeli lawmakers echoed Rajoub’s assessment, saying the  decision to move the match to Jerusalem had contributed to the game’s cancellation.

When the venue for the match was finalized for Jerusalem in early May, Regev said the capital was the appropriate venue for such a prestigious game and quipped that it would give Messi a chance to pray at the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, Culture and Sport Ministry’s Director General Yossi Sharabi said Wednesday afternoon that “a final effort” was still being made to hold the game as planned.

Sharabi, speaking to the Kan public broadcaster’s Israel Radio, rejected suggestions that moving the match from its original Haifa location to Jerusalem had contributed to the cancellation.

“You can’t blame moving the game; we can’t accept a situation where we are dictated to not play in Jerusalem,” he said, adding that “Jerusalem was never raised as an issue or a problem by the Argentine [Soccer] Association.”

Rather, Sharabi said, the Argentine team’s very arrival in Israel was contested by pro-Palestinian activists.

“It’s an attempt to frighten, a terrible threat campaign against players and their families,” he said.

Responding to the initial reports of the cancellation, Regev said early Wednesday that players had received threats from “terror groups.”

“Since they announced they would play against Israel, various terror groups have been sending messages and letters to players on the Argentina national team and their relatives, including clear threats to hurt them and their families,” she said. “These included video clips of dead children.”

The Israel Football Association said Wednesday that Rajoub in his “brutal and physical threats” against Argentina’s team had “crossed every red line,” and vowed action against the PA in international forums.

Israel plans to send a letter of complaint to FIFA, demanding punitive action against “those who dared to explicitly incite to harm soccer players,” it said.