An elite French anti-terrorist unit has been deployed to provide a “ring of steel” around Israel’s first event at the Paris Olympics amid calls for pro-Palestine demonstrations.
France’s BRI Search and Intervention Brigade will patrol fans ahead of Israel’s football match against Mali on Wednesday evening.
The fixture takes place two days before the Olympics opening ceremony and will be the first major test for an “unprecedented” security threat at the Games.
Armed Israeli agents have also been sent to Paris amid tension over the Israel-Hamas conflict and to add to the heat around Wednesday night's game, Israel’s opponents Mali cut diplomatic ties with Israel following the Yom Kippur War in 1973.
Officials confirmed this week that Israeli athletes had received threats in the build-up to the Games.
Thomas Portes, MP for the France Unbowed party, said at the weekend: “The Israeli delegation is not welcome in Paris. Israeli athletes are not welcome at the Olympic Games in Paris.”
Mr Portes said Israelis should be banned from competing in their country’s name, just as Russian teams are not allowed because of the ongoing war in Ukraine.
He even called for thousands to rally at the Parc des Princes and was supported by many colleagues including MP Aymeric Caron.
Mr Caron said: “The Israeli flag, stained with the blood of the innocent people of Gaza, should not fly in Paris this summer.”
Yonathan Arfi, the president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF), said such words were “irresponsible and dangerous” and referred to the Munich Olympics of 1972 when 11 Israeli athletes were murdered by Palestinian terrorists from the Black September group.
He said: "Black September put targets on the backs of Israeli athletes, already the most threatened in the Olympic Games.”
Israel is sending 88 delegates to the Games to compete in 16 sports, which will mark their 18th appearance at the Summer Olympics.
Paris police have erected a four-mile-long metal fence dubbed the “ring of steel” to prevent any security incidents inside the security perimeter of the games. Spectators will need to scan a QR code to pass through the makeshift gated wall.
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games is set to become the most heavily-policed Games ever, with more than 60,000 officers from 43 countries drafted in to keep the peace. Security presence is said to be three times bigger than the London 2012 Olympics.
