Macron, Hollande, Sarkozy, Barnier: rarely has a sporting competition seen such a crowd gathered in the official stand of the Stade de France. This is because beyond its negligible footballing stakes, the France-Israel match crystallizes the political controversy – even ideological – which followed the lynchings of Israeli supporters last Thursday in Amsterdam.
On Sunday, the Élysée announced that Emmanuel Macron would attend the match.in order to send a message of fraternity and solidarity after the intolerable anti-Semitic acts” in the Dutch capital. An initiative joined by his two predecessors and the Prime Minister, while for a week, the 24-hour news channels have devoted part of their debates to the incidents of last week; some emphasizing their anti-Semitic dimension, the others seizing it to pick up on the remarks of the Dutch Prime Minister, Dick Schoof, who mentioned “the ethnic backdrop” of this night of violence.
Questions that resonated with Barbara C., pushing her to travel for the match. This Jewish mother from Marseille, who in normal times would probably have paid only limited attention to the game, will take a train today for Paris to join the convoy of some 600 Jewish spectators who will converge under heavy police protection towards the Dyonisian stadium from an undisclosed point in the Paris region. Ten buses were chartered by the Diaspora Defense Force (DDF), the organization headed by advertising executive Frank Tapiro. “After the Amsterdam pogrom, being present is a way of saying that we will not let this happen and marking the friendship between France and Israelassure Barbara C. You can be French and have the right to support Israel.“
Cancellation requests
With the Israel-Hamas war in the background, the meeting had in any case already gone beyond the purely sporting framework. In Provence, supporters of the Palestinian cause and part of the left have been calling for its cancellation for several weeks. “We don't play with genocide“, summarizes Urgence Palestine Marseille, relaying a call for a demonstration planned for the end of the day in front of the town hall of Saint-Denis. “Just as Russian athletes do not participate in the Olympics, Israelis must be excluded from sports competitions“, explains Juliette Simon on behalf of the Association France Palestine Solidarité 13 (AFPS13). Also active within the BDS movement which calls for the banning of all Israeli companies and institutions from the international scene, this Aixoise who devotes “80% of (his) time for ten years in support of Palestine“judge elsewhere”revolting“the presence of Emmanuel Macron at the match.
A message relayed by the Provençal elected officials of La France insoumise. Sébastien Delogu thus believes that “it is important to exclude national teams that flout international law“. Very invested on this subject, the Insoumis deputy from Bouches-du-Rhône is joined by his colleague from Vaucluse, Raphaël Arnault. The elected representative from Avignon who had greeted “the Palestinian resistance“October 7, 2023 has managed in recent days to find a place in the debates on the lynchings in Amsterdam, by accusing the supporters of the Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv of being responsible for the violence. A hypothesis contradicted by the revelations of Wall Street Journal according to which in the days preceding their arrival, Dutch social networks were already relaying calls for a Jodenjacht, a “hunt for Jews“.
In this execrable context, blessed are those like Jean-Michel Lopez who will enjoy the simple joy of attending an international meeting. Even the prospect of spending a cold November evening in a three-quarters empty stadium did not discourage this episodic supporter of the Blues who will leave from Avignon. “Above all, it’s an opportunity to go to my sister in Paris, he laughs. For the rest, sport should remain sport.“
And then there are the connoisseurs, like Armand*, a well-known personality in the Marseille Jewish community and the world of football, who beyond identity affinities, made a purely sporting choice: “The Israeli selection is zero, no interest.“
*First name changed at the request of the interested party
