Benzema attacked again by figure who branded him a TERRORIST
Tom Weber
- Updated: 26 Oct 2023 14:30 BST
- 3 min read
French Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin has once again hit out at Karim Benzema after branding him a terrorist last week.
Benzema, one of the world's most prominent Muslim footballers, expressed his sympathy for the people of Gaza by writing on X, formerly known as Twitter, that they are the "victims again of unjust bombardments which spare neither women nor children."
Darmanin took exception to Benzema not mentioning the Israelis that had been killed since the renewed outbreak of violence, asserting on a French right-wing TV channel that the former Real Madrid star is "well-known for his links with the Muslim Brotherhood."
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The politician went on: "We are fighting the hydra that is the Muslim Brotherhood, because it creates an atmosphere of jihadism." This prompted an angry response from Benzema via his lawyer Hugues Vigier.
"Karim Benzema has never had the least relationship with this organisation. Praying for a civilian population living under bombs… is neither propaganda for Hamas, nor complicity in terrorism, nor an act of collaboration. It is natural compassion in the face of what many people qualify as war crimes… but which in no way detracts from the horror of the terrorist actions carried out on October 7."
Darmanin's latest dig
Speaking at the home of the French ambassador to the United Arab Emirates in Abu Dhabi, Darmanin again hit out at Benzema. “One might wonder," the interior minister said, "what a footballer is doing tweeting a political opinion and that, when he does it, he does it selectively."
"I personally think that there is something hidden and not to see it is to be naive. We may wonder why the Minister of the Interior reacts to a footballer's tweet, but when it affects 20 million people, I think it is my role to denounce it."
The Muslim Brotherhood was initially founded to counteract British colonialism in Egypt. It is regarded as a terrorist organisation in some countries, but not in most of Europe. The Brotherhood is widely seen as more of an ideological movement rather than an organisation with a formal structure.
"Darmanin is campaigning for 2027," political commentator Philippe Moreau Chevrolet told the BBC. "He's looking for the most effective way to send out a message to right-wing voters."
