I bet there aren’t a lot of people around the world who don’t know Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi - especially after the latest tournament in America last month.
I mean, didn’t everyone watch the World Cup and the magic these two players performed on the field? Who is the greatest?
I guess it depends on who you’re asking, but Messi was named the all-time world’s best player in 2025.
Unfortunately, after the untimely passing of his father, Messi is even questioning whether to keep playing soccer, and Ronaldo is also considering his future.
I’m a huge soccer fan, and when I was growing up in Denmark, I played for three years, and I loved it!
Given my age, the big soccer stars in Denmark at the time were Michael Laudrup, Preben Elkjær, and Peter Schmeichel, to name a few.
Now soccer is joyful, festive, and exciting. It’s something that families and friends and even countries around the world unite around, because it’s just that good. It puts different opinions aside; it bridges gaps, and it makes us all feel good.
Soccer is a game that connects us all, until it comes to terror
Rarely is it something that we connect with terrorists, hatred, or incitement, unless it comes to the Palestinians.
I have watched the magic of Messi and Ronaldo over the years, and I remember back in 2018 when all of Israel, including me, was super excited to welcome Messi and his team as Argentina came to play Israel in June 2018.
It was their final friendly match before heading to the FIFA World Cup in Russia.
I was seriously trying to get tickets for that match, but something utterly repulsive happened: the game was initially set for Haifa but was moved to Jerusalem because of security concerns and threats against Messi.
This was because a well-known terrorist was so furious about this match that he actually encouraged people to burn pictures and jerseys of Messi, and incited them to violence or to do anything possible to stop that match from happening. Yes, you heard that right.
This terrorist was living the high life, in the fast lane instead of sitting in an Israeli jail where he belongs!
His name is Jibril Rajoub, and believe it or not, he is the head of the Palestinian Authority (PA) soccer federation. Are we really surprised?
He was sentenced to life imprisonment by an Israeli military court for throwing a grenade at an Israeli army truck, and while in prison he learned to speak Hebrew, studied politics, and joined Fatah, eventually becoming a prominent prisoner and leader among his incarcerated comrades and terrorist friends.
He was unfortunately released in the Jibril Agreement prisoner swap and deported by Israel to Lebanon, due to his active role in organizing the First Intifada, where nearly 200 Israelis were murdered.
He lives and breathes hatred for Israel, which is why he went absolutely mad in 2018 when the national team of Argentina was planning to come to Israel.
Thank goodness, FIFA actually suspended him from official activities for one year due to his vile incitement to hatred and violence in calling on soccer fans around the world to burn jerseys and pictures of Messi.
His pathetic appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to have that suspension removed was rejected.
He has a long record of vile incitement and anti-Semitic statements, which, among others, included saying that the Jewish people deserved the Nazi genocide perpetrated against them. Additionally, he openly declared that if the PA possessed a nuclear weapon, it would use it against Israel.
Rajoub praised Hamas for the abduction of the young Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2006, and celebrated the terrorists who were released in the prisoner deal that took place five years later, calling them heroes.
His hatred towards Israel and all Israeli was shown again when he publicly refused to stand alongside or shake hands with Basim Sheik Suliman, who is the vice president of the Israel Football Association.
This happened during the FIFA Congress in Vancouver, and for that reason, and maybe many more, the US authorities rightfully rejected a visa for him to attend the FIFA World Cup last month - well done!
Well now Jibril Rajoub is at it again.
He recently announced the resumption of sports activities and the football association's league beginning September 4, and naturally, the PA soccer federation has named its tournament the "Thousand Martyrs' Cup," to honor 1,014 Palestinian Arab "athletes."
Now we all know that when the PA calls someone a martyr, it is in fact a cold-blooded terrorist, and Israeli officials have also recognized that many of these "martyrs" were indeed active members of terrorist organizations, so try to look surprised at this news!
The Palestinians have school plays and TV programs for children; these are used to teach them how to attack and kill Jewish soldiers. Meanwhile, the PA glorifies the slaying of Jews and even pays generous sums of money to these vile terrorists and the families of terrorists who commit all of these heinous terror attacks.
Many governments around the world are directly funding these attacks with money they pour into the corrupt Palestinian Authority, and every year, hundreds of millions of dollars are used to pay these terrorists or their families.
What kind of culture is this, when you glorify someone who just savagely murdered someone just for being Jewish?
Israel does not have a peace partner in Abu Mazen and the PA, but a “partner” that wants to take apart Israel piece by piece and turn it into an Arab Palestine without any Jews, something they are not even hiding.
Fatah and Hamas only have one type of map: all Israel turned into Palestine. The only reason Abu Mazen mentions a two-state solution is to milk billions of dollars from governments around the world.
He is a snake speaking with two tongues, and he is playing the game quite well.
Evil has many shapes, forms, and faces, but it’s the same root.
We are living in a world where it seems like Jewish life doesn’t have the same value as a terrorist attack against innocent people in Belgium, Germany, France, or America.
How can you make peace with someone who teaches its children from birth to hate, and who sends their children to summer camps every year to learn to kill Jews, or names a soccer tournament after cold-blooded terrorists who are role models for their children?
The Roman Empire changed Israel’s name to Palestine after Jewish revolts in the first century in an attempt to erase Jewish identity from the land.
The fact is that the land of Israel has always belonged to the Jewish people, whether or not the name was changed.
The PA is merely a terrorist organization/entity that operates to delegitimize Israel’s existence in order to steal the land and ultimately to eliminate the presence of the Jewish people from their historical and biblical homeland.
As I explained above, one of the terrorists who should be in jail is instead riding high as the head of the "Palestinian Authority (PA) soccer Federation!"
It should be condemned by everyone!