Pro-Palestinian activists have called on major soccer starts to avoid visiting Israel, urging them not to shun the "apartheid state."
Football legend and Argentina's national team captain Lionel Messi and Uruguayan football superstar Luis Suarez are just two of the players expected to arrive in Israel for a friendly game between Argentina and Uruguay.
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The match is scheduled to take place on Nov. 19 in Tel Aviv's Bloomfield Stadium.
Tickets for the game were sold out in a matter of hours.
On Friday, anti-Israeli activists gathered outside a practice of FC Barcelona, for which both Suarez and Messi play, and urged them to cancel their planned visit to Israel.
Video: Twitter
Hoisting signs and chanting "Boycott Israel," the activists yelled at the players that they could "still change your mind and not go to Israel. Would you play in South Africa during the Apartheid?"
Others said, "Don't let Israel use you to whitewash its war crimes. The game will take place near Gaza, where footballers have been shot. Do you really want to be associated with that?"
Last year, Argentinian players, including Messi, received threats ahead of a planned friendly in Israel, which prompted them to cancel the match. The team was also subject to massive political pressure by the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement to cancel the game, which was slated to take place in Jerusalem.
Israel had demanded that FIFA, soccer's international governing body, investigate the threats.
