Israeli minister criticises football star Lamine Yamal for waving Palestinian flag

Barcelona player Lamine Yamal holds a Palestinian flag (AP)

Israel’s defence minister has criticised Barcelona’s teenage football star Lamine Yamal for waving a Palestinian flag during celebrations of the Spanish league title win, saying the act “incites hate”.

“Lamine Yamal chose to incite hate against Israel while our soldiers combat the terrorist organisation Hamas, an organisation that massacred, raped and burned Jewish children, women and the elderly on Oct 7 (2023)”, Israel Katz wrote on X on Thursday.

Yamal, 18, waved a large Palestinian flag from an open-top bus during a victory parade by Barcelona’s team through the city on Monday. The parade drew some 750,000 people to celebrate the league title clinched the previous day, local authorities said.

Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal helped his side win the league (Mike Egerton/PA)

Yamal, who is Muslim, posted pictures of himself holding the flag on his Instagram account.

Spain’s government and a large part of its population have been highly critical of Israel’s military operations that killed tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza in response to the surprise attack by Hamas in 2023.

There has been a global backlash against Israel over the humanitarian toll of the war in Gaza, which has spread to sport and culture.

Protests have been seen in football, cycling and basketball. Last year’s Spanish Vuelta was repeatedly disrupted by protesters angry with the participation of an Israeli-backed cycling team.

Spain is also one of five countries boycotting this year’s Eurovision Song Contest to protest against Israel’s inclusion.

Yamal is set to star for Spain at next month’s World Cup to be played in North America.