Argentina national football team cancels match with Israel

Players of Argentina pose prior the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 qualification match between Ecuador and Argentina at Estadio Monumental Banco Pichincha on March 29, 2022 in Guayaquil, Ecuador. [Franklin Jacome/Getty Images]

Eman Abusidu

In the face of intensive local and international pressure, the Argentine national football team has cancelled its match against Israel scheduled for 6 June at the Sami Ofer Stadium in Haifa. The decision has been taken despite lengthy preparations in Buenos Aires and the raising of $2.5 million to fund the friendly game.

Calls for the match to be cancelled were made by the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and the Argentinian Palestine Solidarity Committee, as well as human rights and solidarity organisations in the South American country. The demands were made in response to a letter from Palestine's Al-Khader Football Club to the Argentine national team.

The letter received wide coverage, not least because Al-Khader FC player Mohammad Ghneim, 19, was killed by Israeli occupation forces in April. It also mentioned the killing by an Israeli sniper earlier this month of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, as well as all of the other Palestinian martyrs killed in their occupied land.