Elaph from ParisThe match between France and Israel in the European Nations League, scheduled for Thursday at Saint-Denis Stadium in the suburbs of Paris, is no longer just a football match between them and a huge football gap that allows the French team to win a landslide victory. Rather, it has turned into a real test of the prestige, status and entity of the French state.
What is meant is the entity of France (the great power), both in terms of security in the first place, as well as politically and ideologically. It is the bastion of freedom, and therefore it must protect the Israeli national team and its fans from the anger of supporters of Gaza and Lebanon, who sparked revenge against any Israeli in the Ajax Amsterdam and Maccabi Tel Aviv match. In the Netherlands last Thursday.
French Interior Minister Bruno Retailo is scheduled to personally monitor Thursday’s football match between France and Israel, which a senior security official described as a “high-risk” event. It is a rare occurrence in Europe for the Interior Minister, the highest security official, to intervene in a football match.
The French Minister of the Interior in the operating room
A French advisor said that Ritello was informed on Monday of the extensive security measures for the European Nations League match. The advisor, who was allowed to remain anonymous to discuss the matter frankly, added that Ritello will be in one of the security operations rooms at Stade Saint-Denis during the match.
Security concerns have increased following the recent violence against an Israeli team in Amsterdam. Fans of the Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv were targeted by local residents after their match against the Dutch club Ajax last Thursday night.
Before the incident, some Maccabi fans lowered Palestinian flags in downtown Amsterdam and destroyed a taxi, the city’s acting police chief said last week, and repeatedly chanted anti-Arab slogans.
4,000 security men to secure the match
Paris Security Chief Laurent Nunez said that 4,000 security personnel would be deployed inside and around the stadium in anticipation of what he described as a “high-risk” event in an interview with BFMTV on Sunday.
French Football Federation President Philippe Diallo told the local newspaper Ouest France that about 20,000 tickets have been sold so far, which indicates a security ratio of one security man for every five attendees.
Activists demand the match be cancelled
Even before the violence in Amsterdam, the France-Israel match was a political flashpoint. Last week, activists organized a sit-in in front of the headquarters of the French Football Federation, demanding the cancellation of the match in protest against the war waged by Israel on Gaza and Lebanon, which resulted in the deaths of thousands of civilians. The Rebel France party, the largest left-wing party in the French National Assembly, also called for the match to be cancelled.
Why don’t you move the match to the island of Corsica?
On the other end of the political spectrum, far-right MP Julien Odoul proposed moving the match to Corsica, an island off the southern coast of France where his party’s candidate Marine Le Pen came in first place in the last presidential election. O’Doul claimed that “there is no anti-Semitism” on the island.
But Ritello insisted that the match be held at the French team’s stadium in Saint-Denis, a suburb of Paris, and that it remain open to the public, according to his advisor.
Appeals to French players to boycott the match
A number of human rights and sports associations, organizations, and activists in Gaza support associations sent messages and appeals via video to the French national team players, calling on them to boycott the match.
Stade de France…previous incidents
The Stade de France has been the scene of several security crises. During the November 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, three suicide bombers tried unsuccessfully to enter the stadium. All three were killed, as was a bystander outside the stadium. The Stade de France also hosted the 2022 Champions League final, which saw fans crushed, pepper-sprayed and beaten by police due to a failed crowd management policy.
Only the flags of France and Israel are allowed to be raised
However, many of the Olympic events held in this place this summer went smoothly, and although security was in the hands of the police authorities, the Minister requested a strict implementation of the ban on raising all flags except the flags of France or Israel, considering the match between them, and raising them cannot be justified. Flags of any other countries or entities.
The Israeli National Security Council advised its citizens to “categorically” avoid attending the match. Ticket sales were already slow before the attacks around Maccabi Tel Aviv’s match against Ajax, and Thursday’s match is expected to be the lowest-attended France team ever at the Stade de France by a large margin.
Macron and Sarkozy on the field
French President Emmanuel Macron, Prime Minister Michel Barnier and former President Nicolas Sarkozy, an ardent football fan, are expected to attend the match.
This match will have local consequences, as France is home to the largest Jewish community in Europe, as well as the largest Muslim community, and tensions are likely to remain high throughout the week.
In addition to the France-Israel match, ultra-nationalist Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich is scheduled to attend a ceremony hosted by the French Jewish association “Israel Forever”, an association politically allied with the far right.
On Tuesday, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced protests against Smotrich’s expected visit to Paris, although his travel plans have not yet been confirmed.
