Argentine President Mauricio Macri is a friend of Israel, and of the large Jewish community in Buenos Aires. But even he, a former president of the Argentine soccer club Boca Juniors, knows that in any properly run country politicians don't meddle with national soccer. (Not that Argentina is entirely a properly run country, but Israel is even less so.)
Such meddling would also break the rules of FIFA, the soccer world's governing body. That's why Macri politely declined Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's request to intervene in the decision to call off the exhibition match set for Jerusalem.
Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev not only doesn't get this, but she's the main culprit for legitimizing Argentina's decision not to come. If there's one thing that Israeli governments have been scrupulous about over the years, it has been not to mix politics and sports.
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