A photograph showing Argentinian soccer star Lionel Messi holding a placard for a sports memorabilia company has been altered to appear as though he is holding a Palestinian flag amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. “Leo Messi Palestinian Support,” reads a post with the altered image shared on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter. And the original photo, posted on Instagram on May 10, 2021, by Messi and by the company, shows Messi holding up an Icons.com placard. Reuters has previously addressed a similar image altered to show Messi holding the Israeli flag. The image of Messi has been digitally altered to show him holding a Palestinian flag.

---

Persons: Lionel Messi, “ Leo Messi, Messi, Dan Rushton, Rushton, MN2S, Read Organizations: Palestinian, Twitter, Facebook, Reuters, Hamas, Thomson Locations: Israel, Instagram, Barcelona, Spain, Gaza, Palestinian