Politics and Sports: During Champions League Match, BeIN Broadcaster Hafid Derradji Salutes "Steadfast Viewers" in the Gaza Strip for Their "Great Marches of Return"

Algerian sports broadcaster Hafid Derradji went off on a political tangent during his running commentary of the Manchester City vs Liverpool qualifying match for the Champions League semi-finals on April 10. Derradji, who was broadcasting the game on the Qatari BeIN Sports TV channel – an Al-Jazeera TV spinoff – said: "We hope our subscribers in all Arab countries will enjoy [the game] – especially our steadfast viewers in the Gaza Strip and the occupied lands." He went on to salute them as heroes and to say: "We wish them all the best in their great Marches of Return to the lands that have been occupied since 1948." The commentary was later posted online by several Palestinian websites.

Hafid Derradji: "Welcome to the war at Etihad Stadium between Manchester City and Liverpool, for qualification for the semi-finals of the Champions League this season. One English team will definitely qualify and will wait for the others to be known. Today's match is guaranteed to provide enjoyment and excitement, for 90 minutes, if not more. We hope our subscribers in all Arab countries will enjoy it – especially our steadfast viewers in the Gaza Strip and the occupied lands. We hope that they will be able to watch this great match in its entirety, without any of the power outages to which they have become accustomed. We wish them all the best in their great Marches of Return to the lands that have been occupied since 1948. We salute you, oh heroes. We wish you more perseverance and steadfastness. Enjoy today's match. Talking about steadfastness – in today's match, it is Liverpool that needs to remain steadfast..."