KARIM Benzema has been accused of spreading “terrorist propaganda” by a French politician.
The former France and Real Madrid forward, who now plays for Saudi Pro League club Al-lttihad, took to Twitter to express his anger about the war in the Middle East.
GettySaudi Arabia’s Al-Ittihad superstar Karim Benzema has been accused of spreading terrorist propaganda[/caption]
Benzema transferred to Saudi’s Al-Ittihad this summer because he wanted to live in a Muslim countryGetty
AlamyStreet art by artist Alexsandro Palombo shows the star holding a football with an Arabic phrase, oozing blood[/caption]
Benzema wrote: “All our prayers for the habitants of Gaza, once again victims of these unjust bombings that spare neither women nor children.”
But the 35-year-old, who is a devout Muslim from an Arab background, came under attack from French politicians on Tuesday night.
French MEP Nadine Morano was quick to criticise Benzema’s tweet, claiming that it exposed him as an enemy of Israel.
Speaking to CNews, Morano said: “Just by writing that, he is an agent of Hamas propaganda because Hamas has a strategy to physically destroy Israel, but also to destroy Israel through international public opinion.”
Morano is herself notorious in France for being a far-Right polemicist who regularly attacks Islam.
In 2016, former president Nicolas Sarkozy removed her from the party’s list for regional elections after she was openly Islamophobic on television.
She told French TV: “France is a Judeo-Christian country of white race, which is attracting foreigners.
“I want France to remain France. I don’t want France to become Muslim.”
Benzema made the transfer to Saudi Arabia over the summer.
When asked why, he said: “Because I’m Muslim and this is a Muslim country, and I have always wanted to live here.
“It’s different, it’s different to Europe. I’ve already been to Saudi Arabia and I feel good about it. Most importantly, it’s a Muslim country, it’s beloved and it’s beautiful.”
This comes as than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, the majority gunned down by Hamas militants who crossed from Gaza and attacked border communities.
Around 3,000 people are thought to have been killed in Israeli air strikes across the Gaza Strip since the war erupted on October 7.
500 are estimated to have been killed in an airstrike on a Gaza hospital yesterday.
Ghassan Abu Sittah, a doctor with the medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said: “Hospitals are not a target. This bloodshed must stop. Enough is enough.”
A spokesman for the Hamas-run health ministry said: “Hundreds of victims are still under the rubble. The hospital was housing hundreds of sick and wounded, and people forcibly displaced from their homes.”
The Sun has contacted for Benzema for comment.
GettyThe Gaza strip has been hit by Israeli airstrikes over the last week, leaving thousands dead and hundreds of victims still under rubble[/caption]