Israeli singer Noa Kirel, known for her participation in Eurovision 2023, where she finished third, has released a new song, titled "Think You're Messi", in which she mocks the Spanish national team: in the video clip, she plays as a goalkeeper, wearing an Argentinian cropped top, effortlessly saving every penalty shot by a Spanish player (in reality, Israeli footballer Dan Ovadia wearing the official World Cup jersey by Adidas, who collaborates in the video).
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The song, released on July 7, already has over 1.1 million views on YouTube, while an Instagram short version of the song became viral this week.
The metaphor is clear: Spain is one of the countries that has been and continue to be more critical about Israeli genocide on Gaza and the occupation of Palestine, while Argentina has been much more supportive of Israel (Netanyahu recently said that "Milei is a great friend of Israel").
The song and video also appears to be a collaboration with Adidas Israel, released right when World Cup quarter-finals are being played. It should be remembered that Israel failed to qualify for World Cup after being defeated 3-0 by Italy in October 2025. If Israel had qualified, it would have been extremely unlikely that FIFA would have banned the country, as they did and continue to do with Russia and Belarus: FIFA fined Israel with €164,272, £141,700 for racism, but failed to act about the teams they have in the occupied West Bank.
Spain will play their quarter-final match against Belgium tonight (21:00 CEST, 20:00 BST), if they win they would face France in the semi-finals on Tuesday.