The Israel football team, which faces France at the Stade de France on Thursday in the Nations League, feels “rather safe” at its training location in the Paris region, assures its coach Ran Ben Shimon, who is expressed in a video released Tuesday by his federation.
After the violence that occurred last week in Amsterdam, where supporters of the Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv were attacked after numerous provocations and insults, Thursday's match in France is considered by the authorities as “high risk”. “There are a lot of security forces around us,” said Ben Shimon, “they are doing the right thing, and I am focusing on the game. »
“The police are doing their job”
The place of training and residence of the Israelis is kept secret, and the context has dissuaded supporters from coming to the stadium in large numbers. Barely 20,000 people are expected Thursday evening. The Israeli authorities on Sunday called on their own supporters to avoid going to Saint-Denis, a week after the violence in Amsterdam, linked to the context of the war in Gaza.
In the same video, Israel team midfielder Ethane Azoulay confirms that the players feel safe: “The police are doing their job, and our minds are completely on football,” he says. It's a bit of a shame that the Jews can't come to the game [aucune interdiction de déplacement pour assister à la rencontre n’a été formulée, 150 à 200 supporters israéliens devraient même être présents dans le parcage]but that's how it is for now, and we focus on football. »
France
