Portuguese soccer star, Cristiano Ronaldo, who was in Israel for a World Cup
qualifying match on Friday, created an uproar on his Facebook page after posting
a picture of himself and his teammates on the Tel Aviv beachfront, writing,
“Great morning in Israel with my colleagues.”
The post created a flurry
of responses from anti- Israel fans writing that it is Palestine, not
Israel.
Mohamed Abdallah wrote, “This land of Palestine is not Israel
understand.”
There were a number of pro-Israel posts both in English and
Hebrew with one by David Daniel stating in Hebrew, “In the Holy Land!” As of
Sunday evening, Ronaldo’s post had more than 333,000 likes and more than 12,000
shares.
In the comment section, there was a political back and forth
between Israel and anti-Israel supporters.
There were also a couple of
posts praising Hitler as well. Lâlmâs KÄtôûngô wrote, “Long live Hitler this
land of Palestine is not Israel.”
Alaaddin Hotari, whose status states
that he is a “Teacher.coach.referee,physical education at UNRWA,” wrote that “I
hope that you can record your most expensive goal in Israel’s goal by greeting
Palestine.”
There were also a few posts that referred to the 1973 Yom
Kippur War, which some Arabs still view as a victory over Israel.
Abdalla
Mahmoud wrote “egypt 1973 palestiiiiiiiiine 2014.”
Dudu Azaria wrote in
response, “to remind you how 73 war ended? we won.”
Portugal and Israel
played to a 3-3 draw in front of 40,000 fans at the National Stadium in Ramat
Gan.