BUENOS AIRES — A decision by Argentina’s national soccer team to cancel a World Cup warm-up match against Israel after protests by Palestinian activists has set off hand-wringing and recrimination here in a nation obsessed with the sport and geopolitics.
Argentina’s soccer federation canceled the game on Tuesday and confirmed it on Wednesday, weeks after Israel had moved it from the coastal city of Haifa to Jerusalem, a city that is a focal point in the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. The change in location of the game ignited protests from Palestinian activists, who displayed bloodstained shirts at a demonstration in Barcelona, where Argentina is practicing for the World Cup beginning June 14.
Both Israeli officials and officials with the Argentine Football Association said threats had been made against Lionel Messi, the star of Argentina’s national team, and other members of the team.
“My responsibility as the president of the A.F.A. is to work for the safety of my people, which is why I made this decision,” the associations’s president, Claudio Tapia, said in a short statement to the news media in Barcelona.
