West Bank - Real Madrid Club, the Spanish professional football club, honoured Ahed Tamimi, Palestinian activist and former captive in Israeli jails at the headquarters of the Royal Club in Madrid.
According to various Spanish press platforms, the 17-year-old met with Emilio Butragueño, a former Real Madrid player and its Director of Institutional Relations. She was presented with an honorary Real Madrid shirt with her name imprinted on it along with the number 9 at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium; a football stadium in Madrid, Spain.
Tamimi, 17, received wide international solidarity during her military court trial –and later imprisonment– after slapping an Israeli soldier in December 2017. Tamimi served an eight-month sentence in Israeli prisons and was released on July 29, 2018.
Earlier, Real Madrid Club received Palestinian child Ahmed Aldawabsha, who survived after settlers burned his family home in Nablus.
During her week-long stay in Spain with her family, Tamimi met with Charlotte Kates, coordinator of Samidoun (international organization supporting Palestinian prisoners) and Manu Pineda, secretary of International Relations of the Communist Party of Spain.
The move angered the Israel which expressed - through a tweet posted on the account of the Foreign Ministry – accusing the giant Spanish team which honours “those who incite violence against the Israelis”.
“Honouring a terrorist has nothing to do with international football. Shameful”, said the tweet.
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