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Maradona might be considered an untouchable demigod in his home country of Argentina, but the embattled soccer star has fallen from grace in the eyes of some in Argentina’s Jewish community because of a controversial comment. La mano de Dios was quoted as saying that he wants to meet the president of Iran: “I’ve already met (Hugo) Chávez and Fidel (Castro). Now the only one I’ve still got to meet is their [the Iranian] president. I want to meet Ahmadineyad.”

The comment was not well-received by the Jewish community, which

…”strongly laments” the words of ex-soccer player Diego Maradona in favor of Iran and hopes that “he rectifies [the situation]“, said the secretary of the Israeli and Argentine Mutual Association (AMIA), Edgardo Gorenber.

“We are admirers of Maradona as a player and we strongly lament his expressing his opinion on such delicate an issue as this one,” he said, after citing that in 1994 the AMIA was the target of a terrorist attack which left 85 dead and which the Jewish community attributes to terrorists protected by Iran.

“Diego is the most well-known Argentine in the world and our soccer embassador. It would be good to tell him the true story about how much pain [Iran] brought us 13 years ago,” said the Agencia Judía de Noticias.

I think the relative gentleness of this chiding of Maradona is a testament to how powerful he still is in Argentina. I doubt anyone else could get away with such statements as that one given the history of the relationship between Iran and Argentina and Ahmadinejad’s denial of the verity of the holocaust.

Via / 20 Minutos