Benzema hits back after ‘TERRORIST’ accusations
Robin Bairner
- 20 Oct 2023 21:32 BST
- 3 min read
Karim Benzema has responded to claims that he has “notorious links” after voicing his support for the Palestine cause in the current conflict with Israel.
Benzema, who plays for Al-Ittihad in the Saudi Pro League, has been embroiled in a battle of words with Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin for several days after the politician accused him of having links to the Muslim Brotherhood.
It is a row seemingly sparked by the former Real Madrid striker taking to X, formerly Twitter, in which he said the people of Gaza are “victims against unjust bombardments which spare neither women nor children”.
Darmanin hit back on right-wing outlet CNews: “We are fighting the hydra that is the Muslim Brotherhood, because it creates an atmosphere of jihadism. Mr Karim Benzema has notorious links, as we all know, with the Muslim Brotherhood.”
He subsequently told BFM: “Mr. Benzema is a great footballer, he is followed by millions of people. I note that he still has not made a tweet for the assassination of this professor in Arras. Nor did he tweet for the decapitated babies, the raped women, the 1,300 massacred by Islamist terrorists in Israel.”
Benzema’s lawyer, though, has hit back.
Hugues Vigier said: “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 [Hamas] terrorist actions carried out on October 7.”
Darmanin notorious in Liverpool
This is not the first time that Darmanin has waded into a football debate.
He previously became notorious after the 2022 Champions League final at Stade de France, when French police fired tear gas into Liverpool supporters as locals got into the stadium and robbed fans.
Darmanin blamed Reds supporters, claiming: “There was massive fraud to an industrial level and organisation of fake of tickets.”
A statement from a Senate committee later said: “It is unfair to have sought to blame supporters of the Liverpool team for the disturbances, as the interior minister has done, to deflect attention from the state's inability to properly manage the crowd and suppress the action of several hundred violent and organised delinquents.”
