Spanish football club FC Barcelona have declined to provide comment on accusations made by the Israeli defence minister towards its star player Lamine Yamal of "inciting hatred" against the country after he waved a Palestinian flag at a victory parade.
Katz said the player’s gesture, made during Barcelona’s recent La Liga title celebrations, amounted to “inciting hatred towards Israel and the Jewish people”, adding that anyone who supports actions like Yamal’s should “ask themselves: is this humanitarian? Is this moral?”
Israel’s defence minister also said that Yamal chose to do it “while Israeli soldiers were fighting the terrorist organisation Hamas, which massacred, raped, burned and murdered children, women and Jewish elders on 7 October.”
Katz went on to call on Barcelona — Yamal’s club since the age of seven — to “make it clear that there is no place for incitement or support for terrorism.”
Euronews also contacted former Barcelona president Joan Gaspart and the Royal Spanish Football Federation, which governs football in Spain and oversees the Spanish national team, of which Lamine Yamal is a member.
