Karim Benzema Tied To Terrorist Group By French Interior Minister

French footballer Karim Benzema has been accused of having "notorious ties" with a terrorist group. The claims were made by French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin during an interview with CNews. A short clip of his comments can be seen below:

Benzema was born in Lyon, France. His parents are from Algeria, and he has kept close to his roots and is a known follower of the Islamic faith. While that does not automatically tie him with Islamic extremists, Darmanin is convinced that he has close ties with The Muslim Brotherhood, which is considered to be a terrorist organisation in France and in many other countries.

In the interview with CNews Network, Darmanin said: "Mister Karim Benzema has notorious ties, as we all know, with the Muslim Brotherhood."

The interior minister did not elaborate on why he believes Benzema to be linked with the terrorist group. He brought up the topic while speaking about the terrorist attack in Brussels, Belgium on Monday, which left two Swedish fans dead and one seriously injured.

The shooter filmed himself after the attack stating that he is affiliated with the Islamic State and shot the victims in the name of Allah.

Benzema openly supports Palestine amid Israel conflict

Incidentally, Benzema also faced backlash after he expressed his thoughts on the ongoing conflict between another terrorist group, Hamas, and Israel.

In a social media post shared days after Hamas attacked Israel and killed over a thousand civilians in a coordinated series of air strikes and ground invasions, Benzema made it clear that he is only concerned about the civilians in Gaza who have ended up as collateral damage due to Israel's retaliation.

He said: "All our prayers go out for all the Gaza inhabitants who are once more victims of unfair bombings that don't forgive women or children."

Curiously, he made no mention of the women, children and elderly Israelis who were brutally murdered by the Hamas militants. There have been reports of pregnant women having their babies torn out of their bodies and children being beheaded during the Hamas attacks. Some of the victims' bodies were so badly mutilated that Israeli forensics teams are having problems identifying those that have been killed and who are still missing.

Despite this, Benzema chose to speak only about those in the Gaza strip who have been affected by Israel's response.

As a result, he was called a "son of a b****" by former La Liga goalkeeper Dudu Aouate, who hails from Israel. Dudu spent the bulk of his career in Spain, spending 11 years in La Liga playing for clubs such as Racing Santander, Deportivo La Coruna and Real Mallorca between 2003 and 2014. He and Benzema would have faced each other frequently during the Frenchman's stint with Real Madrid.

However, there is now clear animosity between them as Dudu responded to Benzema's message with a tweet calling him a "Son of a b****" in Hebrew, French, English, Arabic and Spanish.

Dudu then ended his simple statement with an American and Israeli flag.

On the other hand, Benzema's statement was well received by Palestinian supporters and many of his followers from the Arab world.

What is the Muslim Brotherhood?

Benzema, who now plays for Saudi Pro League side Al-Ittihad, is being linked to the Muslim Brotherhood which was born in Egypt way back in 1928.

It was founded by Sheik Hassan Al-Banna and was considered as a reformist organisation of the Sunni leadership that set themselves two specific goals: to free the country from British oppression and take the power in Egypt in order to fill it back with Islamic values.

The group's founder accepted political violence and members of the group conducted assasinations and attempted assasinations on Egyptian state figures including Egyptian Prime Minister Mahmud El Nokrashi in 1948.

As of 2015, it is considered a terrorist organisation by the governments of Bahrain, Egypt, Russia, Syria, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates among others.

Benzema has yet to respond to the accusations made by Darmanin.