France-Israel: “We will not give in to anti-Semitism”, assures Macron a few hours before the match

A meeting under extreme tension. “We will not give in to anti-Semitism,” Emmanuel Macron warned this Thursday a few hours before the France-Israel football match which will take place in the evening at the Stade de France, in the Paris suburbs, in a tense atmosphere against a backdrop of war in the Middle East and the fight against anti-Semitism. “We will not give in to anti-Semitism anywhere and violence, including in the French Republic, will never prevail, and neither will intimidation,” declared the head of state.

Securing the match has become a major problem as Europe faces a rise in racist and anti-Semitic acts since the start of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza in October 2023. A total of 4,000 police officers and gendarmes will be deployed around and, rarely, in the Saint-Denis stadium, as well as on public transport and in Paris.

Fears of excesses were reinforced after the serious incidents which followed the Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel-Aviv, on the night of November 7 to 8 in Amsterdam. Israeli supporters were chased and beaten in the streets of the Dutch capital, attacks which left 20 to 30 injured and sparked outrage in many Western capitals. Before the match, Maccabi fans chanted anti-Arab chants and burned a Palestinian flag in the central Dam Square.

The French authorities, however, have categorically ruled out giving up the match, or relocating it as Belgium did in September. “Some are calling for the France-Israel match to be relocated. I do not accept it: France is not backing down because that would amount to abdicating in the face of threats of violence and in the face of anti-Semitism,” Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau wrote on Friday on X.

Israel called on its fans on Sunday to avoid going to the Stade de France but between 100 and 150 Israeli supporters will be present, sources confirm to Le Parisien. The Saint-Denis enclosure (80,000 seats) will in any case sound particularly hollow since only 12,000 to 25,000 spectators are expected.

The stand of honor will be well filled. President Emmanuel Macron will be there, to “send a message of fraternity and solidarity after the intolerable anti-Semitic acts which followed the match in Amsterdam”, according to his entourage. His two predecessors, Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande, as well as Prime Minister Michel Barnier will attend the match, according to our information.