Minutes after scoring his goals in the World Cup yesterday, Sunday, Spanish national team player Lamine Jamal found himself facing a broad attack on social media platforms after he prostrated in celebration of the goal he scored against the Saudi team, which angered Spanish and European right-wing accounts. They did not see it as a mere celebration, but described it as an "Islamization" of the Spanish team and evidence of "population replacement," according to their claim.
The attack was not only focused on criticizing the manner of celebration but was based on questioning Jamal's affiliation with the Spanish team, invoking his Moroccan origins and religious identity in a clearly racist discourse targeting Jamal as a symbol of immigrants and Muslims.
The Open Source Unit in Al Jazeera Network tracked a sample of the posts circulating on the "X" platform, analyzed the accounts that led the campaign, and how the attack moved from Spanish platforms to global platforms through networks and accounts linked by the same ideas.
Attack Before the Prostration
Tracking the circulation of Jamal's name on the "X" platform shows that the attack on him did not start only with the celebration prostration but was present before the match by hours, based on discussions triggered by an article published by the British newspaper "The Telegraph" titled "Current Lamine Jamal is very different from the boy who appeared at the Euro."
The article discussed Jamal's recent stances, notably his stance against racism in a friendly match against Egypt on March 31, and his raising of the Palestinian flag during Barcelona's league championship celebrations. The writer described these actions as "controversial," adding that they reflect the player's sense of value and influence and his desire to use his voice instead of remaining silent.
This description drew widespread criticism as many accounts saw Jamal's solidarity with Palestine as a political burden on the player. An activist wrote that Jamal was treated as a "bright-eyed boy" until he raised the Palestinian flag, noting that journalists who historically celebrated athletes like Muhammad Ali punish those today who try to use their voice for a meaningful cause.
The article spread further after Jamal's prostration and the related tweet reached thousands of shares and millions of views, before the celebration became a spark for a more extensive campaign.
Many criticized the article's description of the player's support for Palestine as controversial, and a blogger commented, "It's terrifying how media turns to attack you, the moment you express solidarity with Palestine."
The article spread widely after Jamal's prostration, was shared on the X platform a thousand times, received 11 million views, and many users confirmed the article's conclusions about Jamal's determination to use his power to defend his ideas and beliefs, making that prostration a spark for an incendiary campaign.
"Spain is Christian, Not Muslim"
The analysis by the Open Source Unit shows that the attack following the celebration began from Spanish right-wing accounts with direct comments rejecting Islam and Muslims, celebrating Spain's Christian religion.
The duality of "Christianity not Islam" detailed the first wave of interaction, which included dozens of institutions and well-known right-wing activists.
A "Revolt" organization account (meaning revolution or uprising) - a youth right-wing extremist organization - commented, "Allowing Islam for just one goal, in the future there will be neither a team nor a nation," clearly linking the player's prostration to the future of the Spanish national identity.
The "Canario Today" account, specialized in immigration news, commented, "Spain is Christian, not Muslim," in a post that garnered tens of thousands of views within hours, reflecting the main trend in the campaign, turning the celebration moment into a religious and identity conflict.
Christian global pages quickly criticized Jamal's prostration, stating that Spain, which he plays for, is Christian, and one of the famous pages said they would pray for Jamal to abandon his Islam.
Narrative of "Population Replacement"
The extreme right leverages World Cup tournaments to bolster the narrative of "population replacement," citing the prominent presence of players of immigrant origins in major European teams, such as France.
Right-wing accounts promote the idea that the increasing presence of immigrants in football reflects— from their perspective—broader transformations within European societies.
The narrative quickly extended to the campaign attacking Jamal, led by right-wing accounts with support from international accounts in the second wave of the campaign.
The analysis shows that the "La Derecha Diario" account—a newspaper that consistently publishes this type of content—was one of the prominent accounts pushing the racist narrative further, posting a tweet describing Jamal as "Muslim Lamine Jamal" and "son of Moroccans," and linking his celebratory prostration to what it called "population replacement."
Other accounts invoked Spanish history, stating that their country is against Islam and expelled it from its land, and cannot accept the presence of someone like Lamine who shows his Islam with Spain's victories.
Right-wing posts reveal that the attack on Jamal exceeded his performance on the field, associating his immigrant origins in the extreme right's narrative, employing the success of players from foreign origins to spark discussions about identity and belonging in Europe.
The analysis also reveals repeated mentions of Morocco and Guinea, his parents' homelands, as indicators of widespread posts doubting his Spanish identity.
An activist wrote, "You've seen him kissing the Moroccan shield, his shoes carry the flags of Guinea and Morocco. He carries the Palestinian flag when celebrating, but he is truly Spanish, just because people love football more than anything else."
Repeated tweets demanded the player's exclusion, asserting that they do not want to win if players like Jamal are the ones achieving it.
These posts reveal a recurrent pattern in the campaign, dealing with the player's Moroccan origins as a tool to deny his Spanish affiliation, instead of as part of the biography of a player officially representing his country's team.
Campaign Map
The campaign map prepared by the Open Source Unit in Al Jazeera Network supports this pattern, showing that the wave of attacks on Lamine Jamal was not just scattered posts or passing comments but formed within a digital network interconnected and overlapping, involving right-wing, nationalist, and religious accounts around a central narrative: presenting the player's prostration as a threat to Spain's religious and national identity.
The analysis covered about 6,000 posts within the campaign against Lamine, showing a network comprising 2,249 accounts and 2,102 interactions, distributed among posts, reshares, and responses centered around the same messages.
Key accounts within the campaign's interaction map appeared, like mrcatolico_, ortizliberal, irene_freedom, and dvaciamadrid, which did not act in separate directions but appeared intertwined in producing a single narrative in multiple forms against the star of the Spanish national team and Barcelona FC based on his religion or his parents' origins.
