On the eve of the League of Nations match between France and Israel, which promises to be under high tension, an international right-wing Jewish movement announced this Sunday that it was planning a rally in Paris to fight against anti-Semitism, in the presence of a far-right Israeli minister.
An international right-wing Jewish movement announced this Sunday that it was planning a rally in Paris to fight anti-Semitism, in the presence of a far-right Israeli minister, on the eve of the tense match between France and Israel. The 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 prevent such incidents at sporting events.
“On November 13 in Paris, Betar and the French Jewish Student Movement (MEJF) will welcome the Israeli Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich” in Paris, Betar declared in a press release. A gathering on the sidelines of the “Israel is Forever” gala, an event in support of Israel organized by several far-right personalities.
An organization trying to be justified
If 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”, associations, unions and French left-wing parties had denounced the organization of this gala , particularly criticizing the announced presence of Bezalel Smotrich.
A denunciation which pushed the organizers to justify themselves. “We are scandalized by what happened in Amsterdam and by the reaction of governments,” said the president of the umbrella organization of World Betar, Yigal Brand, quoted in the press release. “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 jihadists,” adds Mr. Brand.
For his part, Mr. Netanyahu again denounced on Sunday the “anti-Semitic” attack in the streets of Amsterdam. This violence, which occurred after the match Thursday evening between Ajax Amsterdam and Maccabi Tel Aviv, led to five temporary hospitalizations and around sixty arrests, according to the Dutch police. “We will do what is necessary to protect ourselves and our citizens. We will never allow the horrors of history to repeat themselves. We will never give in to anti-Semitism or terrorism,” Netanyahu said, according to a press release from his office.
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.
