Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has delivered a message directly to the Iranian people who have taken to Tehran’s streets in the past 48-hours demanding change.

In the English video, Mr. Netanyahu parallelled the “courage” being shown in the streets of the capital where hundreds have gathered over the past few days in rare displays of mass discontent at the same time the Iranian national soccer team has exceeded expections at the FIFA World Cup.

“Can you imagine how hard it is to stop Ronaldo from scoring a goal? I used to play soccer, and let me tell you, it’s almost impossible. But the Iranian team just did the impossible,” Netanyahu says, referring to the Iranian team’s dramatic 1-1 draw against Portugal on Monday.

The full message can be seen below:

Could you stop Ronaldo from scoring a goal?! #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/lRqpUcZczq — PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) June 26, 2018

The message came after thousands of Iranians reportedly took to Tehran’s historic Grand Bazaar on Monday, forcing its shutdown in protest over the Islamic Republic’s decision to spend money on Iran’s adventurism abroad instead of helping fuel its troubled economy at home, where over 40 percent of its population is unemployed.

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman also sought to encourage the protests by issuing a Facebook post in Farsi that addressed the ongoing political and economic discontent that appears to be driving the demonstrations.