Does Lionel Messi Support Israel?

Short answer: As of 2026, Lionel Messi has never made a personal statement of political support for Israel, and he has stayed silent on the Israel-Hamas war since it began in October 2023, even after a hostage's grandmother publicly credited his name with helping her survive. What he does have is a long paper trail of real contact with Israel and Israeli institutions: a Western Wall visit, a competitive match in Tel Aviv, two paid Israeli brand ambassadorships, and a consistent pattern of staying out of the politics around all of it.

What Lionel Messi has actually said and done

• October 7, 2023: During the Hamas attack on Kibbutz Nir Oz, 90-year-old Ester Cunio told a Hamas gunman she was Argentine and mentioned Messi, and she says redirecting the conversation to soccer may have helped her avoid abduction, even as eight members of her extended family, including her grandsons David and Ariel, were taken hostage that day (Times of Israel).
• March 2024: Cunio went public asking Messi to join international efforts to help free her grandsons. Messi did not respond publicly to the appeal, and no statement from him on the request has surfaced since (JTA).
• October 13, 2025: David and Ariel Cunio were released after 738 days in Hamas captivity, as part of the Gaza ceasefire and hostage-release deal, closing out the story that had made Messi's name part of Israeli hostage lore, again with no on-record Messi comment (JNS).
• February 2026: Idoh Zeltzer-Zubida, a 20-year-old Israeli forward, signed with Inter Miami's reserve squad and began training alongside Messi's senior roster, telling reporters, "It's exciting, it's a dream. He doesn't talk much, but I feel like we have good chemistry" (Haaretz).
• June 16, 2026: Messi scored a hat trick as Argentina beat Algeria 3-0 in the teams' World Cup group-stage opener in Kansas City. Days later, Algerian broadcaster Mustapha al-Maazouzi told viewers Messi was "protected by the Jewish lobby," an antisemitic conspiracy claim that Algeria's own media regulator publicly condemned, by June 21, as having crossed into "accusations, defamation, and inflammatory and offensive statements" (Jerusalem Post, Jewish Chronicle).
• Throughout 2023-2026: Across nearly three years of war, hostage crises, and repeated attempts to pull him into the conversation, Messi has not issued a single public statement, post, or interview comment on Israel, Gaza, or the war itself, consistent with the studiously apolitical brand he has kept his entire career (JTA).

Messi's Jewish connections: real history, no personal claim on either side

Despite a persistent rumor, Messi is not Jewish. He was raised Catholic in Rosario, Argentina, the son of Jorge Messi and Celia Cuccittini, both of Italian and Spanish descent (Times of Israel). Some of the confusion traces back to his own hometown: he grew up near a street called Estado de Israel (State of Israel Street) in Rosario's La Bajada neighborhood, a coincidence that still fuels the myth online.

What is real is a long list of genuine contact points. In 2011 he joined a campaign marking victims of the 1994 AMIA Jewish center bombing in Buenos Aires (JTA). In July 2013 he sent a message to Argentina's Maccabiah delegation ahead of the "Jewish Olympics" in Israel, and the next month he visited Jerusalem's Western Wall on a Barcelona club tour that included meetings with Israeli President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Jerusalem Post). In November 2019 he scored for Argentina in a friendly against Uruguay played in Tel Aviv in front of 29,000 fans, including Israeli President Reuven Rivlin (Times of Israel). He has also taken paid ambassador roles with two Israeli companies: Sirin Labs in December 2017 (JTA) and OrCam Technologies, a Jerusalem-based assistive-tech firm, in a three-year deal signed in September 2020 (JTA).

Even the crest on his own jersey has a Jewish backstory: Argentina's national badge was designed in 1976 by Norberto "Toto" Rud, a member of the Jewish sports club Club Nautico Hacoaj in Buenos Aires, and it debuted that November in a friendly against the Soviet Union (JTA). None of it adds up to a personal position on the current war, though. It is a genuine record of cultural and commercial ties, not political ones.

The bottom line

Messi is not Jewish, has never made a political statement about Israel, and has stayed silent through more than two years of war, hostage crises, and a viral appeal from a survivor's family that invoked his own name. What he does have, going back over a decade, is a real and repeatedly renewed relationship with Israeli institutions, brands, and audiences that has nothing to do with taking a side. Call it goodwill history without a verdict: Messi's connection to Israel is documented and genuine, but his opinion on the war simply is not on the record.

Related

Curious how other global stars measure up? See our profiles on Does Kylian Mbappe Support Israel?, Does Neymar Jr. Support Israel?, and Does Justin Bieber Support Israel?

Last updated 2026. We update these profiles as the record changes.