BARCELONA, Spain (AP) 鈥� Israel’s defense minister has criticized Barcelona鈥檚 teenage star Lamine Yamal for his during celebrations of the Spanish league title win, saying the act 鈥渋ncites hate.鈥�
鈥淟amine Yamal chose to incite hate against Israel while our soldiers combat the terrorist organization Hamas, an organization that massacred, raped and burned Jewish children, women and the elderly on Oct. 7, (2023)鈥� minister Israel Katz wrote on X on Thursday.
The 18-year-old Yamal waved a large Palestinian flag from an open-top bus during a victory parade by Barcelona鈥檚 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.
Yamal, who is , posted pictures of him holding the flag on his Instagram account.
Spain鈥檚 government and a large part of its population have been highly critical of Israel鈥檚 military operations that killed tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza in response to the 2023 Hamas surprise attack.
There has been a over the humanitarian toll of the war in Gaza, which has spread to sport and culture. Protests have been seen in soccer, cycling and basketball. Last year’s Spanish Vuelta was by protesters angry with the participation of an Israeli-backed cycling team.
Spain is also one of five countries boycotting this year鈥檚 Eurovision Song Contest to protest .
Yamal is set to star for Spain at next month鈥檚 to be played in North America.
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