After Amsterdam, Israeli authorities advise fans to avoid France-Israel

Israeli authorities have called Sunday supporters are advised to avoid travelling to Saint-Denis, a week after the violence in Amsterdam, at the France-Israel match, although surrounded by an imposing police presence and played in the presence of 'Emmanuel Macron.

The National Security Council, which reports to the Prime Minister's Office, “recommends that Israelis abroad act with precautions (…) especially during the coming week, to completely avoid going to sporting events and cultural events in which Israelis are participating, especially the upcoming match of the Israeli team in Paris.”

Considered “high risk” by the French authorities, the France-Israel match on Thursday at the Stade de France will take place exactly one week after the one between Ajax Amsterdam and Maccabi Tel-Aviv, which was followed by violence in the Dutch city.

This violence targeting Israeli supporters resulted in five temporary hospitalizations and around sixty arrests, according to the Dutch police.

– 4,000 police forces –

Pro-Palestinian protesters at a banned rally in Amsterdam on November 10, 2024 © ANP – Robin van Lonkhuijsen

For the France-Israel match, counting for the Nations League football, a total of 4,000 police officers and gendarmes will be mobilized, announced Sunday the Paris police prefect Laurent Nuñez.

Such a deployment of law enforcement corresponds to an “extremely reinforced device”, “very unusual”, for an international match, added the police prefect on BFMTV.

The 4,000 law enforcement officers will be deployed around and, unusually, in the stadium, as well as on public transport and in Paris. Around 1,600 security agents will also be mobilized at the Stade de France and the Raid, the elite unit of the national police, will be engaged for the security of the Israeli team.

“We will not tolerate any excesses or disturbances to public order,” the police chief said, adding that checks to enter the stadium would be “extremely reinforced” but that the police had not “requested that there be a limited gauge” in the stadium for this Nations League match.

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On Sunday, the French Federation (FFF) estimated the number of tickets sold for the match at “around 20,000”, very far from the approximately 80,000 places available at the Stade de France, while specifying that the ticket office was still open.

French President Emmanuel Macron on October 30, 2024, in Rabat, Morocco © AFP – Ludovic MARIN

According to the Israeli National Security Council, “organizations that want to attack Israelis have been identified in a number of European cities,” citing Brussels, major British cities, Amsterdam and Paris “on the occasion of the expected match of the Israeli national team.”

The organization also recommended that Israelis abroad “not to highlight recognizable Israeli or Jewish signs, including by ordering a taxi through an application.”

Emmanuel Macron will himself attend the football match at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, the Elysée Palace told AFP on Sunday.

– “Message of fraternity” –

According to the President of the Republic's entourage, this is in particular “to send a message of fraternity and solidarity after the intolerable anti-Semitic acts that followed the match in Amsterdam this week”.

The French authorities will also be on the alert the day before the match.

A right-wing international Jewish movement announced on Sunday that it was planning a rally in Paris on Wednesday, the day when the “Israel for ever” gala will also be held, to fight against anti-Semitism, in the presence of an Israeli minister far-right, Bezalel Smotrich.

Betar, which has many branches around the world and includes radical members in its ranks, plans to rally alongside the French Jewish Student Movement (MEJF) on the sidelines of the gala. The location is still unknown.

French associations, unions and left-wing parties had denounced the organization of the gala.

The police prefect, Laurent Nuñez, had however given his approval for the gala to go ahead. Seized by the Coordination of Appeals for a Just Peace in the Near East EuroPalestine to obtain a cancellation of the police prefect's decision, the administrative court ruled on Saturday that there was no reason to ban it.

Mr. Nuñez also stated that the Israeli minister would not make the trip. “I understand that in the end, he will not be there,” he said.

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