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French Soccer Team Avoids Sanctions for Massive ‘Free Palestine’ Banner Condemned by Interior Minister

Soccer Football – Champions League – Paris St Germain v Atletico Madrid – Parc des Princes, Paris, France – November 6, 2024 A banner on support of Palestine is displayed in the stands before the match. Photo: Reuters/Stephanie Lecocq

The French soccer team Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) will not face potential sanctions after its fans unveiled an oversized banner with the slogan “Free Palestine” before kick-off of the team’s UEFA Champions League game on Wednesday, European soccer’s governing body said.

A UEFA spokesperson explained on Thursday that while the UEFA bans “provocative” or “insulting” political messages in stadiums, it does not consider the “Free Palestine” banner to be either one of those. “There will … be no disciplinary case because the banner that was unfurled cannot be in this case considered provocative or insulting,” a UEFA spokesperson said, as reported by Reuters.

Last year, the Scottish club Celtic was fined almost $19,000 after its fans waved Palestinian flags at a UEFA Champions League match.

The massive “Free Palestine” banner covered a large section of PSG’s home stadium of Parc des Princes in Paris on Wednesday before the Qatar-owned team lost in a Champions League match to their Spanish rivals Atletico Madrid. The letter “i” in the word “Palestine” was replaced with an image of the State of Israel, which was covered with the pattern of a black and white keffiyeh. The banner also showed a bloodstained Palestinian flag, a man with a keffiyeh scarf covering all his face except his eyes, the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, and the back of a man who had a Lebanese flag wrapped around him.

The banner was organized by the PSG’s hard-core fan group, the Paris Ultras Collective (CUP), and was shown above another banner that featured a slogan written in French: “War on the pitch but peace in the world.” During the match, PSG fans in the stands raised another banner that read: “Does a child’s life in Gaza mean less than another?” according to Reuters.

The banners were shown as Israel continued its military operations against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Both Islamist terrorist groups seek Israel’s destruction and are backed by Iran.

The banner was also raised eight days before France and Israel compete in Paris against each other in a UEFA Nations League game, which pro-Palestinian activists are trying to have officials cancel because of Israel’s involvement.

French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau took to X on Thursday to condemn the “Free Palestine” banner at the soccer match a day earlier.

“I ask PSG to explain itself and the clubs to ensure that politics does not come to damage sport, which must always remain a source of unity,” Retailleau wrote.This tifo had no place in this stadium, and such messages are also prohibited by the regulations of the League and UEFA. If this were to happen again, we will have to consider banning tifos for clubs that do not enforce the rules.”

In an interview with Sud Radio following the match, Retailleau said the banner was “unacceptable.”

“I want to know more and now how this banner came to be unfurled. The Paris police chief (Laurent Nunez) explained what happened. We agreed on a certain number of things but I am demanding accountability,” he added.

PSG said in a statement on Wednesday night that it was not aware “of any plans to display such a message.”

“PSG emphasizes the Parc des Princes is — and must remain — a place of communion around a shared passion for football and firmly opposes any message of a political nature in the stadium,” the team said.

France has the largest Jewish community in Europe — and the third largest in the world, following the United States and Israel — but also the continent’s largest Muslim community.

The post French Soccer Team Avoids Sanctions for Massive ‘Free Palestine’ Banner Condemned by Interior Minister first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Germany’s Halt to Arms Exports to Israel Is Response to Gaza Expansion Plans, Chancellor Says

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz attends a cabinet meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Aug. 6, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Liesa Johannssen

Germany’s decision to curb arms exports to Israel comes in response to Israel’s plan to expand its operations in the Gaza Strip, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Sunday in an interview with public broadcaster ARD.

“We cannot deliver weapons into a conflict that is now being pursued exclusively by military means,” Merz said. “We want to help diplomatically, and we are doing so.”

The worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza and Israel’s plans to expand military control over the enclave have pushed Germany to take this historically fraught step.

The chancellor said in the interview that the expansion of Israel’s operations in Gaza could claim hundreds of thousands of civilian lives and would require the evacuation of the entire city of Gaza.

“Where are these people supposed to go?” Merz said. “We can’t do that, we won’t do that, and I will not do that.”

Nevertheless, the principles of Germany’s Israel policy remain unchanged, the chancellor said.

“Germany has stood firmly by Israel’s side for 80 years. That will not change,” Merz said.

Germany is Israel’s second-biggest weapons supplier after the US and has long been one of its staunchest supporters, principally because of its historical guilt for the Nazi Holocaust – a policy known as the “Staatsraison.”

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Newsom Calls Trump’s $1 Billion UCLA Settlement Offer Extortion, Says California Won’t Bow

California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks at a press conference, accompanied by members of the Texas Democratic legislators, at the governor’s mansion in Sacramento, California, U.S., August 8, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria

California Governor Gavin Newsom said on Saturday that a $1 billion settlement offer by President Donald Trump’s administration for UCLA amounted to political extortion to which the state will not bow.

The University of California says it is reviewing a $1 billion settlement offer by the Trump administration for UCLA after the government froze hundreds of millions of dollars in funding over pro-Palestinian protests.

UCLA, which is part of the University of California system, said this week the government froze $584 million in funding. Trump has threatened to cut federal funds for universities over anti-Israel student protests.

“Donald Trump has weaponized the DOJ (Department of Justice) to kneecap America’s #1 public university system — freezing medical & science funding until @UCLA pays his $1 billion ransom,” the office of Newsom, a Democrat, said in a post.

“California won’t bow to Trump’s disgusting political extortion,” it added.

“This isn’t about protecting Jewish students – it’s a billion-dollar political shakedown from the pay-to-play president.”

The government alleges universities, including UCLA, allowed antisemitism during the protests and in doing so violated Jewish and Israeli students’ civil rights. The White House had no immediate comment beyond the offer.

Experts have raised free speech and academic freedom concerns over the Republican president’s threats. The University of California says paying such a large settlement would “completely devastate” the institution.

Large demonstrations took place at UCLA last year. Last week, UCLA agreed to pay over $6 million to settle a lawsuit by some students and a professor who alleged antisemitism. It was also sued this year over a 2024 violent mob attack on pro-Palestinian protesters.

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Trump Nominates State Dept Spokeswoman Bruce as US Deputy Representative to UN

FILE PHOTO: U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce speaks during her first press briefing at the State Department in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 6, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

President Donald Trump said on Saturday he was nominating State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce as the next US deputy representative to the United Nations.

Bruce has been the State Department spokesperson since Trump took office in January.

In a post on social media in which Trump announced her nomination, the president said she did a “fantastic job” as State Department spokesperson. Bruce will need to be confirmed for the role by the US Senate, where Trump’s Republican Party holds a majority.

During press briefings, she has defended the Trump administration’s foreign policy decisions ranging from an immigration crackdown and visa revocations to US responses to Russia’s war in Ukraine and Israel’s war in Gaza, including a widely condemned armed private aid operation in the Palestinian territory.

Bruce was previously a political contributor and commentator on Fox News for over 20 years.

She has also authored books like “Fear Itself: Exposing the Left’s Mind-Killing Agenda” that criticized liberals and left-leaning viewpoints.

In a post after Trump’s announcement, Bruce thanked him and suggested that the role was a “few weeks” away. Neither Trump nor Bruce mentioned an exact timeline in their online posts.

“Now I’m blessed that in the next few weeks my commitment to advancing America First leadership and values continues on the global stage in this new post,” Bruce wrote on X.

Trump has picked former White House national security adviser Mike Waltz to be his U.N. envoy. Waltz’s Senate confirmation for that role, wherein he will be Bruce’s boss, is still due.

Waltz was Trump’s national security adviser until he was ousted on May 1 after he was caught up in a March scandal involving a Signal chat among top Trump national security aides on military strikes in Yemen. Trump then nominated Waltz as his U.N. ambassador.

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