Fact Check

Did Ronaldo Snub the President of Israel?

This video was misunderstood when it first went viral in 2014.

Published May 15, 2021

 (TikTok)
Image Via TikTok
Claim:
A video shows Cristiano Ronaldo snubbing the president of Israel.

In May 2021, as a violent conflict between Israel and Palestine escalated, a video went viral on TikTok that supposedly showed soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo making a political statement by snubbing the president of Israel.

Here's a screenshot of the viral TikTok, which was viewed more than 5 million times within a day of its initial posting, along with the caption: "Christian Ronaldo doesn't give his hand to the President of Israel because he supports the Muslims."

This video does not show Ronaldo snubbing the president of Israel. This video, which can be viewed at the bottom of this article, was taken in 2014, and shows Ronaldo as he seemingly snubbed Michel Platini, the then-president of the Union of European Football Associations.

This video was taken after Ronaldo and Real Madrid defeated San Lorenzo for the FIFA World Championship. At the time, there was a controversy over comments Platini had made about who should win that year's Ballon d'or. Real Madrid and Ronaldo apparently took offense to Platini's comments (the team even issued a statement). When this video first went viral, many people saw it as Ronaldo "snubbing" Platini.

Here's the original video:

However, Eurosport reported that Ronaldo and Platini shook hands earlier and that the "snub" in this video was likely accidental.

Whether or not Ronaldo snubbed Platini is a bit subjective. This video, however, certainly does not show the soccer star snubbing the president of Israel in May 2021.

Dan Evon is a former writer for Snopes.

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