Palestinian Football Association chief Jibril Rajoub on Sunday urged soccer fans to burn Barcelona striker Lionel Messi's pictures and jerseys if he plays in a friendly match between Argentina and Israel scheduled for next weekend in Jerusalem.
Two-time world champion Argentina will play at Jerusalem's Teddy Kollek Stadium on Saturday night in a World Cup warm-up match that has attracted huge interest among Israeli fans, mainly because of Messi's planned participation.
But the Palestinians are not happy that the match will be held in Jerusalem. Last week, Rajoub wrote to Claudio Tapia, the head of the Argentine Football Association, accusing Israel of using the match as a "political tool."
The match was originally slated to be played in Haifa but Israeli authorities contributed funding for it to be moved to Jerusalem, irking the Palestinians. The move compounded existing frustration among Palestinians, outraged by U.S. President Donald Trump's recent recognition of the city as Israel's capital and relocation of the U.S. Embassy there last month.
"The Israeli government has turned a regular sports match into a political tool," Rajoub's letter said. "As was widely covered in Argentine media, the match is now being played in order to celebrate the '70th anniversary of the State of Israel.'"
On Sunday, Rajoub declared a campaign against Argentina and particularly against Messi, saying the soccer star has millions of fans across the Arab and Islamic world.
"Messi. Don't come. Don't whitewash the face of racism," Rajoub said.
"He's a big symbol, so we are going to target him personally and we call on everyone to burn his picture and his shirt and to abandon him. We still hope that Messi will not come," Rajoub told reporters after leaving Argentina's representative office in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
A small group of youths wearing Palestinian soccer scarves demonstrated outside the office and attempted to set fire to an Argentinian flag.
Rajoub has long tried to get soccer's world governing body, FIFA, and the International Olympic Committee to impose sanctions against Israel. Those bodies have not heeded his calls.
Argentina has made four previous pre-World Cup stopovers in Israel since 1986. The team has been drawn in World Cup Group D and will open its campaign against Iceland in Moscow on June 16.
