Security is one of the challenges of the France-Israel match

Our neighbors took massive protective measures before the Nations League match against Israel on Thursday evening in Paris. They especially don’t want to experience what happened in Amsterdam last week.

Stefan Brändle, Paris

The “shame of Amsterdam” must not be repeated in Paris. This is the promise made by the French government after the brutal attacks by pro-Palestinian sympathizers against supporters of the Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv last week during the European Cup.

This Thursday evening, the France team will host Israel for a home match as part of the Nations League. The match, which will take place at the Stade de France (north of Paris), is already a “high risk” match, as police prefect Laurent Nuñez explains.

The “targeted anti-Semitic attack”, identified by Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof last Friday after the Ajax Amsterdam-Maccabi European Cup match, is not the only warning. In Paris and its suburbs – where the Stade de France is located – the situation is also fermenting because of the intervention of the Israeli army in Gaza following the Hamas attack on October 7.

In this tense context, extremists are adding fuel to the fire before the France-Israel football match. During the home Champions League match of Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) against Atletico de Madrid, the “Collectif Ultras Paris”, the club’s largest supporters’ club, deployed a huge tifo at the Parc des Princes which had provoked many reactions.

Was this an anti-Semitic challenge to the Jewish state? The banner of the PSG ultras in any case confirmed that the club’s supporters are today largely recruited from North African youth in the suburbs.

In this context, security measures surrounding the France-Israel match will be “reinforced to the extreme”, announced Prefect Nuñez. The Israeli team will be protected by elite units upon its arrival on French soil and upon its departure. In the stadium, any flag other than the French and Israeli flags will be prohibited.

Nuñez acknowledged that it was a “very unusual” security feature. 2,500 police officers were initially planned. There will be 4000. This number is similar to that of the very secure matches of the Olympic Games in August. Most of the law enforcement officers will be deployed around the Stade de France and undoubtedly in the Jewish neighborhoods of Paris, such as the Marais, as well as in front of the synagogues.

The Israeli National Security Council, for its part, advises its citizens against attending the match. Israelis should generally avoid sporting and cultural events, it has been learned.

One of the peculiarities of Israeli policy is that extremist representatives of the state leadership will themselves go to Paris and thus stir up the atmosphere – voluntarily or not -. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich intends to respond to the invitation of nationalist Jewish associations, such as Betar, for a gala evening entitled “Israel is Forever” in Paris the day before the match. On Thursday, he would also like to attend a protest rally against anti-Semitism on the sidelines of the football game.

Smotrich is not only criticized in Israel by the left party and the unions; his name is also known to residents of the French suburbs since he committed himself to the Israeli government for the occupation of the West Bank.

For his part, French President Emmanuel Macron said he would attend the international match to “send a message of fraternity and solidarity after the unacceptable anti-Semitic acts” in Amsterdam. The Parisian media are, however, wondering if his presence, only announced on Sunday, does not risk further politicizing the sporting event.

It begins with the question of to what extent the presence of the French head of state constitutes support for Israel.