In light of Argentina’s victory over England in today’s World Cup semifinals, I’m reminded of a moment when a referee was accused of being a Mossad agent.

On July 7, Argentina took on Egypt in the Round of 16. Despite being down 2-0, Argentina managed to secure the win after French referee Francois Letexier disallowed an Egyptian goal. Within hours, a Wikipedia user edited Letexier’s page to say he was born an Orthodox Jew whose grandfather fled the Nazis. Though there was zero evidence for the claim, the lie quickly spread all over X, and by the time it was taken down, the damage was already done. On social media, antisemitism often goes unchecked, and despite Wikipedia’s questionable reliability, many angry fans believed the lie. One of the only pieces of “evidence” to support the claim was a photograph of Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi wearing a kippah at the Western Wall in 2013. 

Yet, the photo of Messi in Israel was not enough to prove that a soccer game over ten years later was rigged. The user needed to make Messi seem like a man with power–a Jew. This is where the familiar antisemitism comes in. Infamous streamer Sneako, who........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)