Spanish international Lamine Yamal criticised for waving Palestinian flag during bus parade celebrating La Liga title.

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

The 18-year-old Yamal waved a large Palestinian flag from an open-top bus during a victory parade by the team through Barcelona on Monday.

The parade drew about 750,000 people to celebrate the league title clinched the previous day, local authorities said.

“Lamine 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 October 7 [2023],” Israel Katz wrote on X on Thursday.

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 genocidal war in Gaza, which has killed more than 72,000 Palestinians in response to the 2023 Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel.

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 Israel’s inclusion.

Yamal is set to star for Spain at the World Cup in June and July in North America.