Around forty demonstrators from the “Stop Genocide” association, according to a spokesperson for the FFF, sat in the entrance hall of the Federation, in front of a display case of trophies. They stayed for about an hour and the principle of a meeting of two of their delegates with a leader of the FFF on Tuesday around 6 p.m. to discuss their requests was established, it was specified. According to the media images that accompanied them, the demonstrators notably sang the “Song of the Partisans”, a song of the French Resistance from the Second World War. They brandished or placed on the ground signs reading in particular:No to the France-Israel match“, “Genocide Champions League” or asking Fifa, the international federation, to ban Israel (“Ban Israel”).
The French team must face that of Israel on November 14 for the 5th day of the League of Nations at the Stade de France, “a high-risk match“in the context of war in the Middle East, said police prefect Laurent Nuñez on October 17. The meeting will be supervised by “an extremely reinforced security system outside and inside” from the enclosure, he specified. Already in July, during the Paris Olympic Games, a thousand police and gendarmes had been mobilized for the men's football match between Mali and Israel at the Parc des Princes, due to 'calls for “mobilisation” against the presence of the Israeli delegation in France because of the war in Gaza. No notable incident had been reported.
On the other hand, in September, Belgium's home match against Israel in the League of Nations was relocated to Debrecen, Hungary, and was played behind closed doors, after the refusal of several Belgian cities to host the match, fearing excesses. On October 10, during the 3rd day of the League of Nations, the Israel-France match, won 4-1 by the Blues, was also relocated to Hungary, in Budapest.
Israel vowed to destroy the Palestinian movement Hamas after its attack on October 7, 2023 which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data, including hostages killed or dead. in captivity. Of 251 people kidnapped, 97 remain hostages in Gaza, 34 of whom were declared dead by the army. The Israeli army in retaliation launched a devastating offensive in Gaza which has left 43,341 dead to date, mostly civilians, according to data from the Hamas Health Ministry.
France
