Israel Haters Claim Italian Goalkeeper Gianlugi Buffon Is One Of Them (He’s Not)

Regular readers will know Israel-haters have a predilection towards lying and exaggerating in order to try and make Israel look bad.

One such manifestation of this is in the form of claims certain celebrities and sportspeople are fellow Israel haters. We saw it with Santana, and in the sports arena, soccer star Ronaldo.

In recent days, a new such claim about Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon has been doing the rounds. And funnily enough, Arab site Al Bawaba has outed it as false.

Arabic media sources were today buzzing with rumours of a stand for Palestine in international football.

According to reports from numerousArabic sources, Gianluigi Buffon of Italy’s national team shouted “Free Palestine” towards fans during a match with Israel on Monday. Agencies claimed that Buffon was facing a potential fine, and cited Italian paper Gazzetta Dello Sport as the source for the claims.

The reports earned Buffon applause from many in the Middle East, who believed the international player could be taking a hit for his support of the Palestinian cause. The claims were leant apparently credibility by Buffon’s displays of solidarity with Gaza after the 2014 war with Israel.

But is the story true?

It’s perhaps unlikely. After the story gained traction, news verification website Saheh Akhbarak ran the rumor through its debunking tests, and came the the conclusion it was not what it seemed. No international, Israeli or Italian outlets carried information about the supposed penalty for Buffon, it reported, and other news agencies wrote that Buffon presented his shirt to an Israeli player and took photographs with Israeli fans.

In fact, after the game, Israeli player Tal Ben Haim – who scored a goal against Italy and Buffon with this bit of magic

https://youtu.be/pH0sWwuFd3Y

approached Buffon and asked for his shirt.

Then this happened

And yes, he did pose for selfies while here.

Source: Claudio Villa/Getty Images Europe
Source: Claudio Villa/Getty Images Europe

So yeah, the Israel haters are yet again full of beans.

2 thoughts on “Israel Haters Claim Italian Goalkeeper Gianlugi Buffon Is One Of Them (He’s Not)”

  1. How many times can the Italian commentator call him “Ben CHAY-eeeeem”–I guess it was transliterated Ben-Chaim for them 🙂

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