Fears in Paris about ‘risky’ France-Israel football match

France prepares to host Israel football team in a match considered ‘high risk’ by authorities after last week’s violence in Amsterdam.

Violence burst out Thursday in the Dutch capital ahead of Maccabi Tel Aviv’s five-goal defeat to Ajax.

According to Dutch locals and police, Maccabi fans had torn down Palestinian flags on private property, threatened locals and threw projectiles at passers-by.

They were also filmed singing racist chants against Arabs, prompting a response from locals, including members of the Moroccan community, that left dozens of Maccabi fans injured, including at least one fan who was forced into a canal.

Dutch police reported the arrest of about 60 people and Israel organized emergency flights to repatriate its citizens.

Despite eyewitness accounts detailing a series of provocations by Maccabi fans, Western media and politicians have characterized the events as an anti-Semitic pogrom.

On Sunday, French President Emmanuel Macron announced he would attend the UEFA Nations League event, scheduled for Thursday at the Stade de France near Paris, to “send a message of brotherhood and solidarity after the unbearable anti-Semitic acts that followed the match in Amsterdam”.

On Friday, Macron strongly condemned the “violence against Israeli citizens in Amsterdam,” which he said was reminiscent of “the most shameful hours in history.”

Meanwhile, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau announced that the match scheduled for November 14 would not be rescheduled, following several calls to follow the example of the October match between the two teams, which was played in Budapest.

“Some are calling for the France-Israel match to be moved. I do not accept it: France will not withdraw, because that would amount to giving up in the face of the threat of violence and anti-Semitism,” Retailleau said. posted on X.

Neither Macron nor Retailleau mentioned the racist chanting against the Arabs, or the violence on the part of the Maccabi fans.

Mobilization

France has announced exceptional measures to ensure security during the upcoming match, with the mobilization of a total of 4,000 police officers and gendarmes.

Such a deployment corresponds to an “extremely reinforced system” and is “very unusual” for an international competition, according to Paris Police Prefect Laurent Nunez said on Sunday.

To prevent invasion of the field, the first rows of the stands will be closed off. Mobile troop units and plainclothes police officers will operate in the stands, while the Raid, the elite unit of the national police, will be responsible for the security of the Israeli team.

Palestinian flags will also be banned from the stadium.

“There will be no Palestinian flag at the Stade de France. There will only be French or Israeli flags, and messages of support for the teams,” Nunez said.

“There should be no political messages in stadiums, that is the law,” he added.

The decision comes after the unfold of a large banner reading ‘Free Palestine’ by fans of Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) last Wednesday before the club’s UEFA Champions League match against Atletico Madrid.

The French Minister of the Interior convicted the banner, arguing that such displays “have no place in stadiums” and threatened the “unity” of the sport.

Meanwhile, the match between France and Israel has been branded ‘sportswashing’ by pro-Israel activists.Palestine activists.

A petition has been circulating for several weeks, calling for the cancellation of the match between France and Israel and the exclusion of Israel from all international sports competitions, denouncing “sportwashing crimes against humanity.”

FIFA has done that repeatedly shifted its decision on a request to suspend the Israel Football Association. The petition accuses world football’s governing body of double standards and complicity in Israel’s war crimes.

“Although FIFA has sanctioned and penalized the failure to comply with this obligation (to protect human rights) by other countries – South Africa from 1962 to 1992 due to its apartheid policies and more recently Russia and Belarus after the invasion of Ukraine , it allows Israel to ignore international humanitarian law with complete impunity,” the petition reads.

FLASH | « Genocide in Gaza, about peut pas s’en foutre! ». The pro-Palestine militants occupied the FFF for a fair cancellation of the France – Israel match scheduled for May 14.
pic.twitter.com/3B88Dnilzl

— Cerfia (@CerfiaFR) November 4, 2024

Translation: “‘Genocide in Gaza, we cannot ignore it!’ ‘Pro-Palestinian activists occupy the headquarters of the French Football Federation to cancel the France-Israel match scheduled to take place on (Thursday).'”

The call to cancel the match has been relayed by some French MPs from the left-wing party France Unbowed (LFI), such as Manuel Bompard, who asked due to “the cancellation of the France-Israel match due to the crimes committed by the Israeli army”.

On social media, some users have done the same indicted “a double standard” because demonstrations of support for other causes, such as Ukraine after its invasion by Russia, are allowed in the country’s sports arenas.

Ever since Israel started destroying war against Gaza Last year, following the Hamas-led attack on October 7, activists in France denounced increased repression of pro-Palestinian voices, launching hundreds of investigations into comments about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict among the so-called “apologetics for terrorism” attack.

Recently Retailleau announced on Saturday that he took legal action against an LFI parliamentarian, Marie Mesmeur, for ‘apologizing for crime’ after she wrote on supported.”

Low expected turnout

Amid increased security concerns and a tense geopolitical context, attendance at the France-Israel match on Thursday is expected to be high. historically low.

Between 15,000 and 20,000 supporters are expected, the lowest number ever recorded at the Stade de France for a French national team match.

Some have attributed the low turnout to calls for a boycott of the match.

LFI MP Thomas Portes wrote on Facebook that “the French people refuse to participate in this operation to whitewash a government that is committing genocide through sport”.

“Sport will never be neutral. Israel must be excluded by the nations to stop the planned murder of the Palestinian people, and sports competitions are no exception,” he added.

Safety concerns also explain the low figures. On Sunday, Israeli authorities called on supporters not to attend the match.

The tension ahead of the event is even greater as Betar, an international right-wing Jewish group, announced on Sunday that it is planning a meeting in Paris on the eve of the competition to combat anti-Semitism.

The meeting will take place on the same day as the ‘Israel Forever’ gala, an event in support of Israel organized in the French capital by several far-right figures.

French non-governmental organizations, trade unions and left-wing parties have done so indicted the gala will take place as it will be attended by far-right Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich and lawyer Nili Kupfer-Naouri, both known for their calls for genocide in Gaza.

However, the French administrative court ruled on Saturday that there was no reason to ban the gala.

To justify his refusal to cancel the event, the police prefect said on Sunday that the gala “barely brings together a few hundred people” and is “held every year,” stating that the Israeli minister would not make the trip.

“I understand that in the end he won’t be there,” he said.