Barcelona’s championship parade was supposed to be a moment of pure celebration for the club’s fans in Israel. Instead, for many of them, it ended with anger, disappointment and a sense of betrayal after teenage star Lamine Yamal raised a Palestinian flag from the team’s open-top bus.
The moment drew attention around the world, but in Israel, where Barcelona has a large and devoted fan base, it struck a particularly raw nerve. Many supporters said the gesture turned their joy over the Spanish title into a painful political statement.
Defense Minister Israel Katz also condemned Yamal’s act, accusing him of choosing “to incite against Israel and foment hatred” while Israeli soldiers are fighting Hamas.
“Hamas massacred, raped, burned and murdered Jewish children, women and elderly on October 7,” Katz said. “Whoever supports this type of message should ask themselves: Does he consider this humanitarian? Is this moral?”
Katz said that as Israel’s defense minister, he would “not remain silent in the face of incitement against Israel and against the Jewish people,” and called on Barcelona “to distance itself from these statements and make it unequivocally clear that there is no place for incitement or for support of terrorism.”
One of those most upset by the incident was Marwan Jaber, a Druze content creator and pro-Israel activist, who threw Yamal’s jersey into the trash after seeing the images. He filmed the act and posted it on social media, where the video quickly went viral.
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Marwan Jaber, a Druze content creator and pro-Israel activist threw Yamal’s jersey into the trash after seeing the images
“I’m a die-hard Barcelona fan and an admirer of Yamal,” Jaber said. “He inspired me so much that I dyed my hair like him, even though people around me didn’t like it. It was very hard for me to see the player I admired raising a Palestinian flag. I’m still a Barcelona fan, but I’m done supporting Yamal.”
Jaber said he did not understand why Yamal felt the need to raise the flag.
“Maybe someone needs to tell Yamal about October 7. He has no idea,” he said. “I’m very angry at him, and I’ll keep making videos about him so he understands where he went wrong.”
Tom Rosenwasser, a senior member of Barcamania, Barcelona’s Israeli fan organization, said the group had been euphoric after the club won the championship, especially after defeating Real Madrid.
“Then came Lamine Yamal’s act,” he said. “We were surprised and disappointed that he chose to mix politics and sports. Maybe in his innocence, he didn’t understand what he was doing, but for us that flag is not just about ‘liberation.’ It represents the bloodshed that happened among us.”
Barcamania sent a protest letter to Barcelona’s management, saying Yamal’s “foolish and irresponsible” act had hurt tens of thousands of Israeli fans. The group also noted that hundreds of thousands of Israelis are Barcelona supporters and represent significant consumer power for the club.
“We stand behind Israel’s blue-and-white flag no less than Barcelona’s red-and-blue one,” Rosenwasser said.
Another Barcelona fan, Shahaf Tzur, said the sight was personally painful after everything Israelis had endured since October 7.
“We try to separate our love for the club from the disappointment and anger,” he said. “We’ll remain Barça fans because the club is bigger than any player. But if Yamal ever leaves Barcelona, the sadness will be smaller after this.”
International journalist Enrique Zimmerman, who is close to Barcelona and personally knows club president Joan Laporta, said Yamal’s act reflects a broader climate in Spain, and especially in Barcelona, where anti-Israel sentiment has grown.
“From the perspective of some people in Barcelona’s management, Yamal chose the right side of history,” Zimmerman said. “But Laporta does not like it. He rejects the general antisemitic atmosphere in Spain and the biased media coverage against Israel, and he also dislikes what Yamal did, but he will not say so publicly.”
Former Knesset member Issawi Frej, also a Barcelona fan, criticized Yamal as well.
“I want sports to unite people,” Frej said. “I think he did something foolish — a kid with art in his feet but a head that is still inexperienced. It is not appropriate to celebrate the championship of a great international club this way, when it has fans everywhere in the world, Jews and Muslims alike.”
“There are political disputes and narratives,” he added, “but sports should not enter that maze. Yamal is not a politician or a public representative. He represents the one field that allows us to talk to each other and embrace one another, so let’s protect it.”