Friday May 17, 2019
Although sports media rarely highlights this facet of the soccer star, Ronaldo has always been close to the Palestinian cause
Portuguese
footballer, Cristiano Ronaldo, donated US$1.5 million to the people of
Palestine during the backdrop of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Although sports media rarely highlights this facet of the soccer star, Ronaldo has always been close to the Palestinian cause, publicly rejecting the illegal and genocidal incursions of the Israeli regime on several occasions.
In November 2012, while Gaza was being
blanketed with bombs by Israel in their Operation Pillar of Defense,
Ronaldo auctioned off his Golden Boot, the prestigious award given to
the best European strikers of the season, to raise funds that were later
donated to the Palestinian children.
The following year, in
March 2013, at the end of the match between Portugal and Israel for the
2014 World Cup qualifiers, he refused to exchange his shirt with an
Israeli player. Although he shook hands, he excused himself by
explaining that he could not wear a shirt with that country’s flag, as
reported in the press.
Ahmad Daubasha, a 5-year-old boy who was
the only survivor of a Palestinian family attacked by Israeli settlers,
was received by Ronaldo in 2016 at the Real Madrid training center where
he photographed himself with the boy and gave him a shirt dedicated
especially to him.