France-Israel match to be maintained ? Retailleau decides against tensions and fears of spillovers

While a match is scheduled to take place between Israel and France at the Stade de France on November 14, calls for the match to be cancelled are increasing, fearing unrest. Bruno Retailleau has made his decision.

On November 14, France will face Israel in the Nations League at the Stade de France. The football event could take place under high tension, as the conflict in the Middle East is not abating. While Parisian supporters have deployed a “Free Palestine” banner at the Parc des Princes, political demonstrations could multiply during such a confrontation. In addition, violence has taken place against supporters of the Israeli football club Amsterdam this Thursday, November 7, after the Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. 5 people had to be hospitalized and 62 others were arrested.

This raises questions about the smooth running of the match in France and increases fears of excesses. Several calls for the match to be cancelled were then launched. At the beginning of the week, pro-Palestinian activists demonstrated at the French Football Federation to demand the match be cancelled. LFI MP Louis Boyard had also called for the same decision on 1 November, circulating a petition against the match outfit.

A deputy RN, for its part, proposed another solution: relocating the meeting. Julien Odoul, in fact, recommended on RMC to hold the meeting in Corsica because, according to him, “there is no anti-Semitism or pro-Hamas provocations” on the island. Last month, the Belgium-Israel match was relocated to Budapest, considering that the security conditions were not right to organize it.

The match maintained at the Stade de France but with an unprecedented security arrangement

The president of the CRIF, Yonathan Arfi, said that he was “worried” about the match, but that “as a matter of principle, he refuses to give in to the haters, the anti-Semites, the violent”, thus placing himself in favor of maintaining it. Bruno Retailleau, Minister of the Interior, supported the same speech, thus noting the unfolding initial. "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 giving up in the face of threats of violence and in the face of anti-Semitism", he wrote on X.

The minister nevertheless specified that the "necessary security arrangements" would be made for the match. According to BFMTV, the system set up at the Stade de France will be “unprecedented”. More than 2,000 police officers or gendarmes will monitor the inside and surrounding areas of the stadium. The closure of nearby shops and bars in the afternoon is also being considered. The Israeli delegation will be protected 24 hours a day by elite police units and the address of their hotel will remain confidential.

In this climate, the match is not a great success, with only a quarter of the seats taken: out of the 80,000 seats available, only 20,000 have been sold.