Moroccan World Cup fans, who attended the Morocco vs. Portugal game Wednesday in Moscow, appeared in a video trying to snatch the Israeli flag. The footage was shot by the end of the game after the Atlas Lions lost to the Portuguese team because of Critiano Ronaldo's header. Moroccan fans trying to rip the Israeli flag is the best sight 3 I believe Israel will fall like its flag someday.#PORMAR #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/VR8UeGqqcG — Alvi k tweets (@Omeralvi_) June 20, 2018 The video quickly went viral on social media, opening the door for a wave of criticism. Some internet users took their anger to twitter commenting on the fact that some Moroccan supporters have prevented some fans from raising the Israeli flag. #Morocco fans react to the provocation of a number of Israelis who were carrying the flag of Israeli entity near them in the game #Morocco and #Portugal#FifaWorldCup18 #WorldCup #BDS pic.twitter.com/0OOUt7p8aP — Shehab News (@ShehabAgencyEn) June 20, 2018 On the other hand, Israeli media reacted through a series of articles, insisting that the content of the viral video has been misunderstood and that the Moroccan fans were only fighting to grab a shirt thrown by the Atlas Lions' captain Medhi Benatia. For the Times of Israel «the group of Israelis told public broadcaster Kan that fans around them were very friendly throughout the match between Morocco and Portugal and that the fight was merely over one of the Moroccan players' shirt». According to the same source's version of the story, Benatia threw his shirt into the stands after the end of the match closer to where the Israelis were standing which made fans dive, fighting over it. For the record, the video has been blocked by FIFA on copyright grounds.
