“We are proud Zionists and have no reason to apologize (…) We will gather on Wednesday in Paris and Thursday at the football match which is also threatened by the jihadists,” Yigal said in a statement this Sunday. Brand, the president of the umbrella organization of World Betar.
Betar, a right-wing international Jewish movement, is planning a rally in Paris on Wednesday to fight anti-Semitism. The demonstration is expected to take place in the presence of a far-right Israeli minister, Bezalel Smotrich, on the eve of a tense football match between France and Israel at the Stade de France.
This rally will come six days after violence against Israeli football fans in Amsterdam which led Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to order the Mossad to prepare an action plan to avoid such incidents during sporting events.
On the sidelines of the “Israel is Forever” gala
Betar, which has numerous branches around the world and counts radical members in its ranks, plans to gather alongside the French Jewish Student Movement (MEJF) on the sidelines of the “Israel is Forever” gala, a support event in Israel organized by several far-right figures.
Associations, unions and French left-wing parties denounced the organization of this gala, particularly criticizing the announced presence of Bezalel Smotrich.
The gala is presented by its organizers as “the mobilization of French-speaking Zionist forces in the service of the power and history of Israel”.
A total of 4,000 police officers and gendarmes will be mobilized on Thursday for the “high risk” France-Israel match at the Stade de France in the League of Nations, Paris police prefect Laurent Nuñez announced on BFMTV on Sunday.
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