A few years ago, I asked the question whether soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo was anti Israel, based on what looked like a snub of Israeli players.
This has since been debunked, albeit by a terrible website to which I will not link: https://citizenpartridge.wordpress.com/2014/07/26/no-ronaldo-didnt-refuse-to-swap-shirts-with-an-israeli-footballer-but-he-did-pose-for-photos-with-shimon-peres/
You can clearly see that the player he “refuses” to exchange his jersey with is a Portuguese player, who has already swapped shirt with an Israeli player (look at the colour of his shorts, then look at the colour of the Israeli players’ shorts).
The story also goes that Ronaldo remarked that he wouldn’t swap his shirt with (depending on where you read it) a “killer” or an “assassin”, accoridng to a ‘locker room interview’ follwing the game. As there was no refusal to exchange shirts in the first place, clearly the whole ‘interview’ in the dressing room is also made up. Furthermore, there is no source for the alleged comment – even if, going via the Veterans News Now piece above, you click through to the ‘source’ story in French, there is no actual source cited, just “a reporter said”… who were they? what was their name? Where did they say it? Why is one French blog the only place where this incredible news was reported?
Now some recent news would seem to reinforce the idea that he isn’t:
Portuguese soccer star Christian Ronaldo has reportedly bought an Israeli-made private jet.
The Real Madrid striker paid €19 million for the Gulfstream G200 business jet produced by Israel Aircraft Industries, according to Lisbon-based news-site Correio da Manhã.
This of course does not mean he is pro Israel, but it does mean he is no BDSHole.
As for this photo that has done the rounds:
It’s a photoshop:
And this?
It’s real, but then again, so is this:
As is this:
As for news he auctioned his 2011 European Golden Boot and donated proceeds of £1.4 million to a cause supporting palestinian children, this is also unlikely to be true.
However, the story reeks of a hoax, with neither Real Madrid’s official site validating the news, nor any major Spanish daily covering it, as reported in many of the articles reporting the story. Also, the likelihood of Indonesian site Tribunnews being one of the first to report the news of Ronaldo’s ‘generous donation’ makes the whole story more make-believe than genuine news.
No confirmation has come from Ronaldo’s official Twitter handle either.
Whether or not Ronaldo has sympathy for the “palestinian cause” is a matter of conjecture. The fact remains, he has not publicly come out against Israel or for the palestinians. He does not seem to be a guy with a dog in this race.
But he did buy a huge mother******* plane made in Israel, which is bound to rile the BDSHoles.
