PARIS: A French court on Thursday threw out a defamation case brought by professional football player Karim Benzema against Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin.

The French 2022 Ballon d’Or winner wrote on X, formerly Twitter, in October that Palestinian civilians in Gaza were in his prayers over what he called Israel’s “unjust bombardments” of the besieged territory, after the October 7 attacks on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas.