The encounter of all dangers. On November 14, a Football match between France and Israel will take place at the Stade de France, as part of the Nations League. A banal sporting event on paper, but which in the current context of war in the Middle East, takes on unprecedented challenges. On October 29, several pro-Palestinian associations launched a petition, addressed to Fifa, to demand the exclusion of the Israeli football federation and the cancellation of the match. Monday, November 4, a few dozen of these same activists took over the headquarters of the French Football Federation, making the same demands. LFI deputy Louis Boyard unsurprisingly supported this boycott venture, believing that it was inconceivable that the meeting could be held “as if nothing had happened”. “Football has always been on the side of the oppressedhe tweeted. Faced with the genocide in Gaza, the Blues must not welcome Israel to the Stade de France. »
Further to the right, the cancellation of the match in principle is not envisaged. The Macronist deputy Mathieu Lefèvre, for example, if he says he is understanding of the “revolt” of pro-Palestinians, believes that a football sanction would have no effect. “It is not a way to protect civilian populations to stigmatize a State”he declared, trying to spare the goat and the cabbage. Less specious, Jordan Bardella denounced the irresponsibility of the “Islamo-leftist movement” who, with such a claim, “makes teams and spectators targets”.
Because, beyond ideological postures and condemnations in the name of respect for “human rights”, the question of the cancellation of the France-Israel match arises above all for security reasons. Will the meeting really be able to take place in the current climate of tension, moreover in Saint-Denis, a territory acquired by the extreme left and where philosemitism unfortunately seems very “residual” ? Invited Friday morning on RMC, the Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau wanted to be resolutely proactive. “I made a point with the police chief Laurent Nunez. We are going to adapt the security system because there are riskshe declared. We are in France and we must be able to enforce public order. I hope it will be a good moment for sport and for this special relationship which unites Israel and France ».
European precedents
Ce “good time” unfortunately could not take place in Brussels last September. Belgium then had to give up organizing a match against Israel because the local authorities considered that security could not be ensured. Anti-Zionist pressure had won. We also remember the last edition of Eurovision in Malmö, Sweden, where the European far left demanded the disqualification of the Israeli candidate, while hordes of Islamists flocked around the hotel where she was staying. the unfortunate woman, forcing her to surround herself with a close security team for the slightest of her trips.
Fueled by extra-European migratory flows, excited by the far left, anti-Israeli crowds also enjoy a growing power of nuisance in France. Today, they organize boycotts in supermarkets, disrupt sporting events, discourage a President of the Republic from marching against anti-Semitism. And tomorrow?
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