Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin has criticized Karim Benzema over a Gaza tweet and accused the football star of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood. What is the story behind this?
In a television interview with CNews, France’s interior minister Gérald Darmanin claimed that Karim Benzema was “notoriously connected to the Muslim Brotherhood.” Since then, the football star’s lawyer has vehemently rejected this accusation.
French media have even reported that 35-year-old Benzema told his lawyer that he is not entirely sure what the Muslim Brotherhood is and has only heard vague rumors about it. The 35-year-old from Lyon has been under contract with the Saudi club Al-Ittihad since the beginning of this season. And Saudi Arabia considers the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization. The group, which some view as radical Islamist, has also been banned in Egypt, where the Muslim Brotherhood was founded in 1928, since 2013.
Benzema’s tweet about Gaza
As the background to the dispute, the interior minister cited a tweet from Benzema, in which the French national player and Ballon d’Or 2022 writes: “We pray for the people of Gaza, who have once again fallen victim to these unjust bombings that spare neither women nor children.”
Toutes nos prières pour les habitants de Gaza victimes une fois de plus de ces bombardements injustes qui n’épargnent ni femmes ni enfants.
— Karim Benzema (@Benzema) October 15, 2023
Green opposition politician Sandrine Rousseau wondered if the interior minister had nothing better to do than deal with a footballer’s tweets.
Gérald Darmanin – who is very active on X himself – called on Karim Benzema to write a tweet of condolence for the teacher killed in Arras.
Benzema’s lawyer Hugues Vigier advised his client in the French media not to be blackmailed by the interior minister.
Darmanin is positioning himself as a possible successor to Macron
The 41-year-old Gérald Darmanin is positioning himself as one of the possible successors to French President Emmanuel Macron. His omnipresence in law and order matters is reminiscent of former head of state and interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy.
Darmanin or Attal?
But the former mayor of Tourcoing in northern France is not the only minister who wants to score points domestically with pithy words and announcements in the fight against Islamism.
After a teacher was murdered by a former student, France’s education minister, Gabiel Attal, declared that he no longer wanted radicalized young people in French schools. The 34-year-old former Socialist Attal received applause from conservatives and the far right for his statement.
Emmanuel Macron is no longer allowed to run for president after two terms.