France-Israel | Kick-off for a high-risk, ultra-secure match

(Saint-Denis) In a stadium that rings hollow, the France-Israel football match kicked off Thursday evening at the Stade de France, north of Paris, where an exceptional security system was put in place in a tense climate after last week’s violence on the sidelines of a Maccabi Tel-Aviv match in Amsterdam.

Fans of the visiting team were scattered throughout the stadium, with Israeli flags. Their national anthem triggered a few scattered whistles from part of the audience.

The sporting stakes of this meeting in the Paris suburbs counting for the League of Nations are largely eclipsed by the geopolitical context.

French President Emmanuel Macron assured his Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the “mobilization of France” for a “good progress of the match”.

Securing the match has become a major issue 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 throughout Paris.

Elisa, a 23-year-old from Lille who came with her family and who does not give her name, judges that the omnipresence of police around the stadium does not “bother”. It is even desirable according to her, “because there is a risk that violent people will disrupt the match”.

The Saint-Denis enclosure (80,000 seats) will sound a little hollow since only 12,000 to 25,000 spectators are expected, the lowest attendance in the history of this stadium for a football match (36,842 spectators for France-New Zealand in 2003).

Pedestrian traffic on the unusually deserted square in front of the compound was very fluid, with very few French and Israeli flags visible.

“It spoils the party a little because there will only be 15,000 people instead of 80,000 and there won’t be much of an atmosphere,” regretted Matthieu Magron, supporter of the French team. before having his ticket scanned near the enclosure.

In the stadium, only French and Israeli flags are allowed, and Palestinian banners, as well as “messages of a political nature”, will be prohibited, indicated Laurent Nuñez.

The first rows of seats are covered with a tarpaulin to prevent any intrusion and grilles have been erected above the advertising panels all around the pitch.

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.

“We are here for Israel”

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 have categorically ruled out giving up the match, or relocating it as Belgium did in September.

Israel called on its fans on Sunday to avoid going to the Stade de France. The head of Israeli diplomacy Gideon Saar asked the French authorities on Thursday evening to ensure “the security of Israeli supporters”.

Led by an association for the defense of the Jewish community, more than 600 people went to the stadium early Thursday evening in around ten chartered buses and placed under high police security.

“We are not here for football, we are here for Israel, we must support the Israeli team,” said Jean-Philippe Sirois in front of one of the buses.

In addition to the police, around 1,600 security agents will be mobilized at the Stade de France and the RAID, the elite unit of the national police, is committed to the security of the Israel team.

The authorities plan to secure places of worship and Jewish communities in Paris and nearby suburbs, according to a note from the police headquarters (PP) consulted by AFP.

The PP also asks the police for increased vigilance in places where “supporters (of the Israeli selection) are likely to travel”, notably in kosher restaurants in the west of the capital.

In a square in the town of Saint-Denis, several hundred people gathered Thursday evening to denounce the holding of this match.

“Our goal is to denounce Israel’s impunity […]. We do not believe that we can calmly play on a football field, on one side, and continue to bomb, on the other,” denounced Neva Bekhtari, of the Urgence Palestine collective, on the microphone.