Academy Award-winning Spanish actor Javier Bardem says it wouldn’t be wrong to say the FIFA World Cup final between Argentina and Spain could be seen as a proxy match between Israel and Palestine.
The actor was speaking to journalist Mehdi Hasan early on Monday morning in the aftermath of Spain’s victory when the topic of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of his cabinet rooting for Argentina came up. Argentine President Javier Milei, meanwhile, was quoted as saying he was the “proudest Zionist president in the world”.
Hasan said Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez had, in contrast, been an outspoken critic of Israel and had led his country to join the genocide trial against Israel in the International Court of Justice.
Bardem said the notion of the two competitors representing Israel and Palestine was right, but with the caveat that leaders don’t necessarily represent the will of their people.
“But it’s true that at this high level of encountering and conflict, it’s true that when a president is supporting so openly a person who is a war criminal like Netanyahu, then you want to really support the other team,” the actor said.
