“The players' families were suffering due to the threats.”
For the past week, demonstrators with blood-drenched Argentina football shirts have been protesting outside the team's camp in Barcelona, where they are training ahead of the World Cup later this month.
Palestinian FA head Jabril Rajoub had called on soccer fans worldwide to burn shirts with Messi's name on it and also threatened to torpedo Argentina's bid to host the 2030 World Cup finals.
But he later described Argentina's decision as a “red card for Israel.”
“If the game between Argentina and Israel had been held in Haifa as originally planned, we wouldn’t have opposed it at all,” he told the Times of Israel on Wednesday.
Israel's Minister of Culture and Sport Miri Regev, who had insisted that the match be switched from Haifa's Sammy Offer Stadium to Jerusalem, came under fire from opposition MKs.
Zionist Union head MK Avi Gabai tweeted: "Regev provoked BDS and caused the cancelation of the match."
Ms Regev described the cancellation as a victory for terrorism and lashed out at what she called “Trojan horses in the Knesset.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu contacted Argentine President Mauricio Macri in an effort to reverse the decision, but was told that the players were determined not to come.
The friendly fixture was intended to be Argentina's last warmup match before the World Cup finals in Russia next week.
