Page 6 - Ulpan Or E-Tone (06-12-18) Advanced Level

E-Tone™: Ulpan-Or Weekly News Digest

Item #1 (Advanced Level)

Messi isn’t Coming

When Argentina’s players left the practice in Barcelona yesterday, anti-

Israel protesters were waiting for them, who among other things were
lifting up blood-stained Argentina team’s jerseys. These weren’t the

images Leo Messi and his father Jorge thought of when they thought of the

trip to Israel. Pressure has increased in recent days, Jibril Rajoub called on
Muslims in the world to burn Messi’s jerseys. Last night the Argentinians

already announced they’re dropping this in an urgent call to Israel, the

official notice came today. All that is left is to gauge the part the Minister
of Sports Miri Regev had in the cancelation. She’s the one who ran a

campaign, turned the private event into a national event, a part of Israel’s
seventieth celebrations, according to her. She’s the one who made sure,

with public funds, to move the game from Haifa to Jerusalem for purely

political reasons. “The real story here isn’t Haifa nor Jerusalem, the real
story here is the threats to Messi’s life.” Thirty thousand seats at Teddy

Stadium will stay empty on Saturday night. Leo Messi, assuming he won’t

care, lost his title as Israel’s darling, but the big loser in this game remains
Israel, and for a change it wasn’t the players who lost.

Page 6 - Edition 06-12-18
Copyrighted and owned by Ulpan-Or. Any usage, copying and distribution without express permission from Ulpan-Or is prohibited.