‘Free Palestine’ – Paris Saint-Germain Fans Send Powerful Pro-Palestine Message

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French Interior Minister Bruno Retaillo said the banner was “unacceptable” and said he would seek clarification from Paris Saint-Germain, without ruling out sanctions.

Paris Saint-Germain fans exhibited on Wednesday pro-Palestinian banners during their match against Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Champions League at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris.

The fans of the French club displayed a massive banner before the game reading ‘Free palestine’.

The iconic Jerusalem’s Dome of the Rock took center stage in the massive tifo, while to its right stood a Palestinian figure draped in a red Keffiyeh. The Palestinian and Lebanese flags bordered the banner reading ‘Free palestine’,in English.

At the lower end of the banner, another powerful inscription in French read: ‘The battle is in the field but peace in the whole world.”

In response to the move, French Interior Minister Bruno Retaillo said the banner was “unacceptable” and said he would seek clarification from Paris Saint-Germain, without ruling out sanctions.

Deliberate Killing of Athletes

The powerful message of the fans of the French football team comes as a stark reminder of the multiple assassinations the Israeli occupation army has carried against athletes in gaza since the onset of its genocide over a year ago.

The Palestinian Football Association (PFA) has said in July that nearly 100 Palestinian football players were killed since the start of the genocidal war by israel.

Two of the players were on the Palestinian National Team, including Mohamed Barakat, known as “the legend of Khan Yunis”. Barakat was the first Palestinian to score over 100 goals professionally.

Paris Saint-Germain fans exhibited a massive banner reading ‘Free palestine’. pic.twitter.com/NWqiNFNmDB

— The palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) November 7, 2024

On July 13, the goalkeeper for Shabab Khan Yunis Football Club, Shadi Abu al-Araj, was killed in the Al-Mawasi massacre carried out by the Israeli army in the Khan Yunis area, in southern gaza.

In March, the PFA submitted a proposal, supported by six member associations, to FIFA to discuss Israeli human rights violations against Palestinians during the FIFA Congress scheduled to take place on May 17 in Thailand.

The proposal “calls for immediate sanctions against Israeli teams over unprecedented violations of human rights committed by the Israeli occupation in palestine, particularly in the gaza Strip,” the PFA said at the time.

The call by the PFA came as up to 60 rights groups accused FIFA of applying “a different yardstick to Israeli actions” which undermines its credibility and exposes the world football body “to allegations of political bias and hypocrisy.”

In a letter to FIFA, the groups demanded “the immediate suspension of Israeli football teams from all competitions in light of its ongoing genocide” in the gaza Strip.

More recently, following israel’s burning of 19-year-old Sha’ban Al-Dalou in his tent in the courtyard of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah on October 13, Rock legend and activist, Roger Waters sent a powerful message to football players everywhere.

The Pink Floyd co-founder wrote on X: “If you’re a footballer and you’re playing in the European nations league and you walk out onto a football pitch with anyone from israel including the whole national team, you are complicit in the murder of the young man burning in his tent!”

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Genocide Continues

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on gaza.

Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, israel has been waging a devastating war on gaza since October 7.

According to gaza’s Ministry of Health, 43,391 Palestinians have been killed, and 102,347 wounded in israel’s ongoing genocide in gaza starting on October 7, 2023.

Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.

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israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.

Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.

The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.

The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.

Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central gaza in a constant search for safety. 

(PC, Anadolu)