![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Screenshot-2023-10-21-092513-696x429.png\" "\\"Screenshot")
Image caption: The former French international is threatening to sue G\u00e9rald Darmanin, who accused him of Islamist links<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
French football\u2019s \u201cbad boy\u201d Karim Benzema is threatening to go to court after Interior Minister G\u00e9rald Darmanin accused him of having links with the Muslim Brotherhood.<\/p>\n
The minister was reacting to remarks made by Benzema on X, formerly Twitter, in which he offered prayers to the people of Gaza as \u201cvictims again of unjust bombardments which spare neither women nor children\u201d.<\/p>\n
Noting his failure to express similar sympathy for the estimated 1,400 Israeli victims of Hamas, Mr Darmanin said the former French striker was \u201cwell-known for his links with the Muslim Brotherhood\u201d.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe are fighting the hydra that is the Muslim Brotherhood because it creates an atmosphere of jihadism,\u201d he told right-wing news channel CNews.<\/p>\n
The footballer, who now lives in Saudi Arabia and plays in the Saudi Pro League, authorised his Paris lawyer to issue a categorical denial \u2013 and to threaten legal action against Mr Darmanin for slander.<\/p>\n
\u201cKarim Benzema has never had the least relationship with this organisation,\u201d said Hugues Vigier.<\/p>\n
\u201cPraying for a civilian population living under bombs\u2026 is neither propaganda for Hamas, nor complicity in terrorism, nor an act of collaboration.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is natural compassion in the face of what many people qualify as war crimes\u2026 but which in no way detracts from the horror of the [Hamas] terrorist actions carried out on October 7,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said Karim Benzema was also considering legal action against right-wing deputy Nadine Morano, who described him as an \u201celement of propaganda for Hamas\u201d.<\/p>\n
Speaking subsequently on BFMTV, the interior minister refused to back down \u2013 saying he would only withdraw his comments if the footballer issued another tweet lamenting last Friday\u2019s Islamist murder of a schoolteacher in Arras.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe [Muslim] Brotherhood is insidious. It uses all the means available in our society to get across its message of a strict Islam\u2026. Not to see this is to be naive. Let\u2019s stop being naive!\u201d<\/p>\n The Muslim Brotherhood is the 80-year-old movement, founded in Egypt, which has provided the rationale for many modern-day Islamist organisations, including Hamas.<\/p>\n Banned in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and many other Middle Eastern countries, it suffers no restriction in most of the EU, which does not regard it as terrorist.<\/p>\n Primarily an ideological movement, with no formal structure, its influence in Europe is mainly seen via front organisations which campaign for Islamic causes like the right of women to wear head-coverings.<\/p>\n Mr Darmanin\u2019s attack on Karim Benzema came under immediate fire from the political left, which accused the minister of trying to make political hay.<\/p>\n The 35-year-old former Real Madrid star has a difficult relationship with the French public. Though idolised by some, he has also won a reputation as a troublemaker.<\/p>\n In 2021 he was given a year\u2019s suspended prison sentence\u00a0after being convicted of complicity to commit blackmail over a sex-video featuring French team-mate Mathieu Valbuena.<\/p>\n \u201cDarmanin is campaigning for 2027,\u201d said political commentator Philippe Moreau Chevrolet, pointing to the next presidential election.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s looking for the most effective way to send out a message to right-wing voters.\u201d<\/p>\n The minister\u2019s entourage conceded there was \u201cno judicial basis for proceeding against Benzema\u201d.<\/p>\n However in off-the-record briefings to the French press they said the footballer has \u201cdisplayed a steady move towards a strict Islam characteristic of Brotherhood ideology\u201d. They cited his refusal to sing the national anthem during appearances for France, and his \u201cproselytism\u201d on social media.<\/p>\n Renowned lawyer Emmanuel Daoud told Le Figaro newspaper of his shock at Mr Darmanin\u2019s intervention.<\/p>\n \u201cIs it tolerable for a man who [as interior minister] is also minister of religion to say that expressing any spiritual compassion with the people of Gaza makes someone necessarily guilty of being close to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe are very far from our basic laws.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"G\u00e9rald](\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/_131487370_adrm.jpg\")