All day long, the mine clearance services combed through every square centimeter of the Palais des sports in Caen-la-Mer, where France-Israel women’s basketball is taking place this Thursday evening. Fortunately they found nothing. Two full hours before kick-off, the police forces surrounded the room within a radius of 2 square kilometers. Some roads are closed: relief routes were put in place from the end of the afternoon for those who wanted to avoid the area.
The palace’s underground car park, usually reserved for VIPs, is prohibited from entering to avoid any parcel bombs hidden in a vehicle. It is rumored that invisible snipers are stationed on the roof. At the entrance, the police are heavily armed, the security guards are more attentive than usual in their body searches. There is no question of bringing in a Palestinian flag or any other object of protest. The police are on alert. Inside, plainclothes police officers also keep an eye on things, watching for the slightest excess, the smallest political message.
Ten days before the France-Israel footballers’ match at the Stade de France, the first confrontation between the two nations, against a backdrop of conflict in the Middle East and renewed tension between the two countries, gave an overview of the tension that reigns. The Caen hall is obviously not the Saint-Denis venue. Brand new, the sports center can only accommodate 4,200 spectators. A women’s basketball poster, even with the French Olympic vice-champions, does not have the same impact either.
At kick-off time, fortunately, only the tricolor flags handed out at the entrance were waving. “We come to see a basketball match, the girls who made us dream of the Games this summer,” insists Michael in the aisles. Caen is a basketball land. There is a salary that a French team has not set foot here. We just want to enjoy it, without worrying about politics. »
In November 1995, the city of William the Conqueror had already hosted a France-Israel (2-0) with Aimé Jacquet’s team on the road to Euro 96. This match took place less than a week after the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
When the anthems are played, everything is calm. Not the slightest claim on the horizon. When the teams are presented, the players from the State of Israel are applauded. Their anthem, Hatikvah, is listened to with respect. The Marseillaise in the process is obviously noisier, repeated at the top of its lungs as in the finest Olympic hours. The hardest part for safety is over: everything went well. It’s 9:10 p.m. and France-Israel can begin. A match (almost) like any other.
