In the World Cup final Palestine also faced Israel. And Palestine ended up winning 1 to 0

On the grass MetLife Stadium The players of the Spanish and Argentine teams were running, but there were those who lived yesterday the World Cup final like a fight between two different protagonists, with geopolitical resonances. On the one hand, a Spain that has become one of the great defenders international (certainly the most media-friendly) of Palestine. On the other, an Argentina led by a ruler who presume of being “the most Zionist president in the world” and that before the party he had received public support of the Israeli prime minister.

That tension that transcends what is strictly sports was clearly experienced on Sunday on the networks… and also the Middle East, especially in Jerusalem.

Football and more. If there is an event capable of emptying streets and beaches in the middle of July and bringing together millions of people around a screen is a World Cup final. This virality helps to understand that the tournament often transcends the sporting sphere to fully penetrate the economic, political and symbolic sphere.

It happened yesterday. And it’s quite understandable. If we add to the magnetism of the World Cup the geopolitical contextthat the party was disputed in the US and that the protagonists of the final were Spain and Argentina, led by governments that have shown clear support respectively for Palestine and Israel, the extra-sports seasoning of the match was guaranteed. It was sport. And it was political.

Cross tweets. The demonstration of to what extent this was the case came via Xwhere Israel and Palestine made it clear which team they supported.

The first message came on Saturday from the official account of the Israeli Prime Minister. In it were published several photographs of Benjamin Netanyahu with the Argentine ambassador Shimon Axel Wahnish in which the Israeli leader holds the albiceleste shirt. And in case the image was not clear in itself, it was accompanied by a message publicly sent by Netanyahu to President Javier Milei: “We support Argentina in many ways, including tomorrow.”

That tweet already circulated on Saturday, on the eve of the game, but it has done so again in the last few hours after the official account of the State of Palestine recovered it to include it in a new post. In it it basically does two things: it shares the poster created by the RFEF to announce Spain’s victory and is accompanied by the Palestinian flag, the Spanish flag and two hearts. All this (remember) along with Netanyahu’s original message supporting Argentina.

Network thing, right? Not quite. It is true that the exchange of messages via elDiario, The Sixth wave EFE agency They have published chronicles that show how Sunday’s final was experienced intensely in places like Gaza or Ramallah, in the West Bank, where fans could be seen celebrating Ferran Torres’ goal or even wearing La Roja t-shirts and Spanish flags. Similar scenes can also be followed on networks, as in a shared video on IG by Ya7ya_sager.

In Ramallah the party gathered thousands of people to follow the party, including Spanish diplomatic staff. It wasn’t just about love of football or a question of affinity towards one team or another. The symbolic background is deeper.

Two areas, two hobbies. Maria Trapaderne, from the EFE agency, tells a chronicle how Jerusalem remained divided in the match being played at the MetLfife in New Jersey. The Western zone turned to Argentina. The East, with a majority Palestinian population, mobilized with the Red.

The chronicler tells how at the New Gate of the Old City you could see terraces full of people with the Red shirt and red flags. “The eastern side supports Spain because Spain has actively supported Palestine, while Argentina has supported Israel and fostered brotherhood between both countries,” summarizes Guada young Palestinian who followed the game.

Why this polarization? To understand it, you need to dust off the newspaper archive. Both the recent and the oldest. Argentina and the Palestinian people have important linkswhich include both migration ties and the decision of Buenos Aires to recognize Palestine as a State in 2010. However, the current president of the South American country, Javier Milei, has stood out for his closeness to the Israeli Executive headed by Netanyahu.

At the beginning of 2024, shortly after his election, the Argentine leader traveled to Israelwhere he could be seen crying in front of the Wailing Wall, and he himself has proclaimed himself “the most Zionist president in the world.” Not even Messi has been freed of controversies related to the propaganda Israeli.

Reviewing figures. The link between both territories can be measured in figures. In 2005 the newspaper The Nation public that around 244,000 Jews lived in the Capital and Greater Buenos Aires and in the country as a whole they numbered around 300,000, making them the largest Jewish community in all of Latin America.

In addition to these ties, the historical link between Buenos Aires and Tel Aviv goes back decades: Argentina was the first country of Latin America in recognizing the Jewish state and this supported her in the Malvinas war.

And on the part of Spain? Above all, the support of the Pedro Sánchez Government for Palestine in the last two years stands out. In 2024 the Executive decided to recognize the Palestinian State alleging “a question of historical justice with the legitimate aspirations” of its people. Since then the Government has condemned also officially the Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip and has been shown very critical with the decisions of the executive led by Netanyahu.

With regard to Gaza, Spain has also adopted a tone of your ownmuch stronger than that of the rest of its community partners, just as it did in 2025 in his refusal to raise to 5% its investment in defense, as Donald Trump demanded. As if that were not enough, the Cycling Tour last year made it clear that the rejection of Israel’s position in Gaza permeates part of Spanish society.

The clearest example came a few months ago from the hands (literally) of Lamine Yamal, who celebrated Barcelona’s victory in the League waving the flag Palestine, a gesture that publicly celebrated the authority of the region.

Images | TikTok and Instagram

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