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The Argentina-Israel match in Jerusalem was canceled. Reuters reports that Messi's visit to Israel for political reasons has been canceled. This was the last preparatory match in Argentina before the World Cup.
Argentine Foreign Minister George Fauri has said about the absence of Argentine footballers about the match, "As far as I know national footballers did not want to play this match," Argentine coach Jorge Sompauli told about his unwillingness to play the match. He did not want to play in Barcelona before the World Cup and he wanted to play in Barcelona.
Meanwhile, Argentine star Gonzalo Higuain said the match was canceled due to the political pressure on the whole team. The Argentine Football Federation has urged the Argentine Football Federation not to play this match beforehand. President of the Palestinian Football Federation called on Lionel Messi not to play the match, saying if Messi would go to Israel after hundreds of requests, his jerseys and images would be burnt. On behalf of the Palestinian Football Federation, a letter was written to the Argentine government requesting not to come to Jerusalem to play the match.
Palestinian authorities believe that Israel wanted to use the game for political purposes against Argentine. The match was supposed to be held in Haifa, but for some reason it was taken to Jerusalem. To the Argentine government, Israel calls Jerusalem "united Jerusalem"
Recently, 61 people were killed by Israeli forces in Gaza to stop Palestine protests. Palestinians have always been claiming East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state. Israel, however, claims that the city of Jerusalem itself is the same. In December last year, US President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel by an announcement. The decision was made to open the US Embassy there. The Palestinians were stunned during the opening of the US embassy on May 14.
The expectations that Messi did not travel to Israel after so many things was Palestine. The president of the country's football federation Jibril Rajab said, "Messi is a symbol of love and respect. When we play against Israel, we hope that he will not acknowledge crimes against humanity. "
Messi and Argentina are finally giving the Palestinians a reward for that hope.
