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Anti-Israel group threatens to stage protests at Paris Olympics
The Israeli team will have 24-hour protection at the Olympic Games in Paris
July 24, 2024 10:17
The Israeli team will have 24-hour protection at the Olympic Games in Paris
July 24, 2024 10:17Pro-Palestine campaigners said they plan to stage a protest from the stands when Israel men’s football team plays Mali in their opening tie in the Olympic Games in Paris.
French anti-Israel group “Europalestine” told reporters it would protest from the stands of the Parc des Princes stadium.
Susanne Shields, from the group told the Guardian newspaper there would be a protest against the “genocide” in Gaza.
It comes as it is revealed that Israel is the only country in need of 24-hour protection at the Games.
They will be guarded by specialist French elite gendarme police units. As well as there being a “search and intervention brigade” to patrol the crowds of fans ahead of the game on Wednesday evening.
The Israeli team will also have their own security since the murder of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich.
Thomas Bach, the International Olympic Committee president said: “The Israeli athletes since 1972 they always have taken their additional security measures, and so they did also this time and they feel comfortable with this situation.”
A source at the French interior ministry told reporters there was no specific threat to the Israel-Mali football match.
The Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, is expected to be in Paris for the opening ceremony.
Agence France-Presse reported that he is expected to take part in a commemorative ceremony to mark 52 years after the attack on Israeli athletes during the Munich games.
Olympic delegations are free to pull out athletes from appearing at the opening ceremony.
As part of the ceremony, athletes from all participating countries will travel 6km of the Seine by boat in a parade.
An interior ministry source said: “All delegations have accepted our security system.”
On Monday The Palestinian Olympic Committee called for the IOC to exclude Israel from the games.
As both delegations arrived in Paris on Monday The Palestinian Olympics group sent a letter Bach asking him to ban Israel.
The letter “emphasised that Palestinian athletes, particularly those in Gaza, are denied safe passage and have suffered significantly due to ongoing conflict.”
It said: “Approximately 400 Palestinian athletes have been killed, and the destruction of sports facilities exacerbates the plight of athletes who are already under severe restrictions.”
Bach said “The Olympic Games are a competition not between countries” and would not would not cave into demands for bans that aim to politicise the Games.
He said: “We have two national organising committees. That’s the difference with the world of politics, in this respect, both have been living in peaceful coexistence.
“And the Olympic Games are a competition not between countries. There are competitions between athletes …
“The Palestinian national organising committee has greatly benefited because Palestine is not a recognised member state of the United Nations, but the NOC of Palestine is a recognised National Olympic Committee enjoying equal rights and opportunities alike with all the other national Olympic committees.”