France mounts security operation for Israel match after Amsterdam violence

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - PARIS — Thousands of police are being deployed in Paris to ensure security at Thursday’s France-Israel football international, a week after violence in Amsterdam in which Maccabi Tel Aviv fans came under attack.

Paris police chief Laurent Nuñez said that 4,000 officers would be on patrol, 2,500 at the Stade de France in the northern Paris suburbs and the rest on public transport and inside the capital.

In addition around 1,600 private security guards will be on duty at the stadium, and an elite anti-terrorist police unit will protect the visiting Israeli squad.

“It is a high-risk match [because of] an extremely tense geopolitical context,” Nuñez said.

“We will not allow any attempt to disturb public order.”

The Uefa Nations League match is under intense scrutiny following the violence after last Thursday’s match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Netherlands.

The stadium, which can hold 80,000, will be only a quarter full. Following advice by the Israeli government, no more than 100 or so Israeli fans are expected to travel to Paris, though other Israeli supporters may go to the game.

Politicians across Europe decried a “return of antisemitism” after Israeli fans were chased through the streets of Amsterdam.

Maccabi fans were themselves involved in vandalism, tearing down a Palestinian flag, attacking a taxi and chanting anti-Arab slogans, according to city authorities. They were then targeted by “small groups of rioters... on foot, by scooter or car”, the city said in a 12-page report.

Violence between Israel and its neighbors in the Middle East has the potential to spread to Europe.

France, Belgium and the Netherlands all have large Muslim populations of North African origin and they live beside far smaller Jewish populations, who in the main identify strongly with Israel.

To express solidarity with European Jews after Amsterdam, President Emmanuel Macron has said he will attend Thursday’s match, which begins at 20:45 (19:45 GMT).

He will be joined by Prime Minister Michel Barnier as well as previous presidents François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy.

Supporters have been told to expect identity checks ahead of the game. Bars and restaurants in the area have been told to close from the afternoon.

The Stade de France was the scene of a dangerous breakdown in law-and-order at a Uefa Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid in 2022. However since then the Rugby World Cup and Paris Olympics have both been peacefully staged there.

France’s far-left France Unbowed (LFI) party – which sides with Palestinians and Lebanese in the conflicts with Israel – has called for Thursday’s match to be canceled, or at least for President Macron to refuse to attend.

“We do not want our head of state honoring a country that commits genocide,” said LFI deputy David Guiraud. Israel has denied allegations of genocide as baseless and grossly distorted.

But Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said it was out of the question to cancel or relocate the match. “France does not give way to those who sow hatred,” he said.

France and Israel are in the same group in the Uefa competition, alongside Italy and Belgium. In their first leg – played in Budapest – France beat Israel 4-1.

Pre-match tensions were already in evidence after a pro-Israeli “gala” event was given the go-ahead for Wednesday evening in Paris, which the far-right Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich was at one point expected to attend – although it was later thought his “presence” would be by video-link.

Pro-Palestinian and anti-racist organisations were planning demonstrations in the capital to coincide with the event.

Relations between Macron and Benyamin Netanyahu have come under severe strain in recent weeks, after Macron accused the Israeli prime minister of “spreading barbarism” in Gaza and Lebanon.

French Jews were also upset when Macron was quoted as saying that Netanyahu should accept United Nations calls for a ceasefire because “his country was itself created by a decision of the UN.” This was interpreted in Israel as an insult to Jews who had lost their lives in their country’s war of independence.

France in turn was angered when two French officials were briefly detained by Israeli authorities at a holy site in East Jerusalem that is under French administration.

Macron has been described as pursuing a zigzag in his approach to the Middle East, as in many other domains, flip-flopping inconsistently between outspoken statements of support for Israel and then its Arab neighbors. — BBC