Source: Arab News
Security & Justice
Watch: Israeli Army Blows Up Village Near the Border
The Israeli army is still blowing up entire villages or neighborhoods, especially those near the border.
Monday, November 4, 2024
Hezbollah Says Launched ‘Big Rocket Salvo’ at Israel’s Safed
Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group said it fired rockets at the northern Israeli city of Safed on Monday, the latest attack in more than a month of war.
Monday, November 4, 2024
Opinion
The Emptying of Baalbek Is a Moment to Take Stock
“Large numbers of people continue to flee their homes every day, as Israel’s military operations in Lebanon have been going on unabated.” These disturbing words could be from almost any news report about Israel’s invasion of its northern neighbour over the past month. However, they can be found in a report by the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre issued on July 27, 2006.
Saturday, November 2, 2024
A Future Without Hezbollah
At the end of September, when Israel’s campaign to destroy Hezbollah was reaching its height, I met one of the group’s supporters in a seaside café in western Beirut. He was a middle-aged man with a thin white beard and the spent look of someone who had not slept for days. He was an academic of sorts, not a fighter, but his ties to Hezbollah were deep and long-standing.
Thursday, October 31, 2024
Sports
Tottenham Forward Son Heung-min Crowned Asia’s International Player of the Year
Tottenham forward Son Heung-min was crowned as Asia’s International Player of the Year for the fourth time by the Asian Football Confederation at its annual awards ceremony Tuesday.
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Real Madrid Launch Investigation into Racist Insults After El Clasico Defeat
Real Madrid has launched an investigation into racist insults directed at players during Saturday’s 4-0 home loss to Barcelona in LaLiga, it said on Sunday.
Monday, October 28, 2024
Thursday 19 October 2023 13:55:05
Karim Benzema Faces Backlash in France Over Statement of Solidarity with People of Gaza
Karim Benzema, the French footballer who currently plays for Saudi club Al-Ittihad, is facing a backlash from officials in his home country after he expressed solidarity with the people of Gaza and said they were being subjected to unjust bombing.
In a message posted on social media site X on Sunday, the current FIFA Ballon D’or holder wrote: “All our prayers for the inhabitants of Gaza who are once again victims of these unjust bombings which spare no women or children.”
The post has garnered more than 558,000 likes, 180,000 retweets and 60,000 comments.
However, French senator Valerie Boyer has demanded that the government strip Benzema of his citizenship, and that his Ballon D’or accolade, awarded annually by news magazine French Football to the men’s player judged to be the best of the year, be withdrawn.
News website Tribuna reported that Boyer’s demand came in the form of a signed petition addressed to the French government, posted on her Instagram page, in which she said: “We cannot accept that a French dual national, internationally known, could dishonor and even betray our country in this way.”
Benzema was born in Lyon to parents of Algerian descent.
The row escalated further when French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, speaking on TV channel CNews, alleged that Benzema was “connected” to the Muslim Brotherhood, which a number of nations, including France, consider to be a terrorist organization.
Meanwhile, Israeli former goalkeeper David “Dudu” Aouate, who played for Spanish clubs Racing Santander, Deportivo and Mallorca, insulted Benzema on X over his comments about Gaza, using curse words in five languages, the Marca newspaper reported.
On Oct. 7, Hamas operatives crossed the border from Gaza into Israel where they killed more than a thousand Israelis, including soldiers and civilians.
Vowing to wipe out Hamas, Israel responded by bombing Gaza, killing more than 3,000 civilians. On Tuesday, Israeli forces were accused of carrying out an attack on a hospital that is thought to have killed more than 500 people.
