Israeli President Isaac Herzog congratulated Spain on Monday morning over its win in the 2026 World Cup final.
“My best wishes to His Majesty King Felipe VI, the team, and the people of Spain on winning the World Cup. I hope to see Israel at the next World Cup hosted in your country, as well as in Portugal and Morocco,” Herzog tweeted.
The president also commended Argentina, who lost the previous day to Spain 0-1 in 120 minutes, “for their extraordinary run through this tournament to the final.”
The World Cup “has once again shown the power of sport to unite people across borders in a spirit of goodwill, harmony, and joy,” he said.
Before the match, played at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced support for Argentina, sending a personal message to President Javier Milei in a meeting with Buenos Aires’s ambassador to Israel, Rabbi Shimon Axel Wahnish.
During the meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem on Saturday night, Wahnish played an audio message in Spanish from Milei, who thanked Netanyahu for his support.
“You are my friend, always supporting us,” Milei said. “I was happy to hear that you are rooting for Argentina because of me.”
Israeli and Spanish relations have soured under the current Spanish government, led by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, head of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party. Sánchez’s government has time and again excoriated Israel over its war in Gaza, in the wake of the Hamas-led massacre in Israel’s south on Oct. 7, 2023, and has initiated anti-Israel measures in the international arena.
Argentina has won the Fifa World Cup three times – in 1978, 1986 and 2022 – while Spain has now won it twice, in 2010 and this year.
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