France’s Interior Minister hits out at Karim Benzema AGAIN after the ex-Real Madrid star denied ‘having links with terrorists’ after the politician claimed he is ‘notoriously’ connected to the Muslim Brotherhood

Karim Benzema has again been targeted by the French Interior Minister, who previously claimed to have links to a terrorist organization.

Gerald Darmanin’s claims came in the wake of the French footballer criticizing the “unjust bombings” in Gaza amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine, which has left innocent women and children dead.

Benzema’s lawyer Hugues Vigier confirmed on Thursday that his client had filed a complaint against the minister and blatantly denied the allegations, but Darmanin continued to raise questions about the former Real Madrid star’s connections.

He told the French newspaper RMC that he would not in fact withdraw his accusations unless the 35-year-old spoke out about the death of Dominique Bernard, a professor who was killed by a Chechen terrorist in Arras earlier this month.

In laying out his reasons for claiming that Benzema had links to a terrorist organization, Darmanin pointed to the fact that he had remained silent about murdered children and those “slaughtered” by so-called “Islamic terrorists.”

Former French international Karim Benzema spoke out against ‘unjust’ bombings in Gaza

Gerald Darmanin has claimed that Benzema has links to a terrorist organization

‘What did I say? Mr. Benzema is a great footballer, followed by millions of people,” he began. ‘It struck me that he still hasn’t tweeted about the murder of that professor in Arras. He also didn’t tweet about the beheaded babies, the raped women, the 1,300 slaughtered by Islamic terrorists in Israel.

‘Terrorism is very insidious. It consists of using all the resources of society – sports, music, influence on the Internet – to promote Islam. That is what brotherhood consists of. I would like Mr Benzema to tweet about the murder of the professor in Arras. He is known for his extremely rigorous Islam, which unfortunately has ties with people who, for example, took pleasure in the murder of Samuel Paty.’

Paty, a teacher, was stabbed to death and beheaded in a Paris suburb three years ago after allegedly showing cartoons of the Prophet to his class during a lesson on freedom of expression.

“We cannot be selective in our outrage,” the French politician continued. ‘That is what Brotherhood consists of, unfortunately using selective messages in an insidious way, being able to show that there is something other than radicalization in a place of worship through sports, music and society.’

He added: “Mr Benzema is French. But I have a right to challenge the idea that when you tweet about Palestinian civilians, it is extremely surprising not to tweet about the 1,300 deaths in Israel and not to tweet about the professor’s murder. You will see that this selectivity raises questions.

‘I tell you that the Muslim Brotherhood is using the opportunity extremely intelligently to convey a deeply anti-French message. There are examples of this every day. Some get caught because they do it so quickly that it becomes a caricature, like the Nice player (Youcef Atal). Isn’t it shocking that a professional player working in France can say what he said?’

The French interior minister then called on Benzema to discuss Professor Bernard’s death to “show good faith” and added that this would “improve” national unity.

‘If Mr Benzema wants to show his good faith and is able to tweet about the death of the professor, I will withdraw my comment. I note that he has made the highly selective choice to use the same language as the Muslim Brotherhood.

The former Real Madrid striker, who joined Al-Ittihad in the summer transfer window in a huge deal worth £86m per year, withdrew from the France squad after the 2022 World Cup.

‘Wouldn’t that be a good thing for the Republic? That would be great of you. It would improve national unity.’

The Muslim Brotherhood was officially classified as a terrorist organization in 2021 after Austria banned the group under the new anti-terrorism law passed by parliament in July that year.

It is also considered a terrorist organization in Saudi Arabia, along with six other countries, including Austria. However, the Muslim Brotherhood is not recognized as a terrorist group in France.