High-risk match between France and Israel with the shadow of the Amsterdam altercations

The police have described it as a high-risk encounter, 4,000 officers will be deployed and the security protocol will be reinforced. “Israeli fans welcome in Paris”. The delegate minister of Europe, Benjamin Haddadencouraged the Israeli fans to go without fear today to the match that Israel plays with the French team.

It will be at the Stade de France, in Saint Denis, and it occurs a week after the incidents in Amsterdam, when the match between the Israeli Maccabi and Ajax was taking place, which left people injured and more than 60 arrested. The clashes caused the French government will reconsider whether to hold this match. Israel sent two planes to repatriate the fans who were in Amsterdam. “When you attack a Jew in France you attack France, the Republic”noted Benjamin Haddad. The country has the largest Jewish community in Europe and since the war began in Near Eastanti-Semitic attacks have skyrocketed.

The match is held in the midst of the controversy unleashed by the visit, the day before France-Israel, of the Israeli Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrichto Paris. He was scheduled to participate on Wednesday in a gala event organized by Israel Forever, an organization considered close to the extreme right.

Some political leaders on the left, as well as pro-Palestinian organizations, had been asking for its cancellation for days. But the police prefect, Laurent Nuñez, had rejected it, considering that there was no “no imminent threat”. The pressure took effect and his spokesperson announced that he was finally not going to be present.

A few days ago, several French personalities of Jewish origin denounced in a forum in The World the visit of the controversial minister, who said last Monday that “Gaza and the West Bank will be forever taken from the Palestinians”. He welcomed Trump’s victory in the US because it “represents an important opportunity” to, he said, prevent there from being a Palestinian state that would “endanger the existence of Israel.”

This Thursday’s “high-risk” match between both teams takes place nine years after the November 13 attacks in Paris. The chain of attacks began right at the Stade de France, where the then president, François Hollande, was attending a sporting event. The Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, revealed that the possibility of changing the location and holding the France-Israel match at PSG’s Princes stadium was considered, but it was ruled out when he considered that security could be guaranteed in Saint Denis. “We are not going to abdicate in the face of threats from violent and anti-Semitic people,” he said.

The president, Emmanuel Macron, and the prime minister, Michel Barnierthey will attend the meeting to set an example and show an image of tranquility. The presence of the president is not usually exactly a reason for calm, since lately he is whistled and booed, as if he were a footballer.

Despite the messages from the French Government, Tel Aviv has advised its citizens living abroad against attending the football match. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has had several disagreements with Macron in recent weeks, considering that it does not have a strong enough stance in support of Israel.