The French team receives Israel in a very tense atmosphere, Thursday at the Stade de France where an exceptional security system has been put in place in the midst of the conflict in the Middle East, in a climate exacerbated by the violence of last week on the sidelines of a Maccabi Tel-Aviv match in Amsterdam. The pressure is at its peak before this important meeting for the League of Nations, whose sporting stakes are largely eclipsed by the geopolitical context. 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. Fears of unrest have been heightened after the serious incidents that followed the Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv on the night of 7-8 November in Amsterdam. Israeli fans were chased and beaten in the streets of the Dutch capital, attacks that left 20 to 30 injured and sparked outrage in many Western capitals. Palestinian flags and placards during a demonstration organized by LFI, Les Ecologistes and the NPA against the “Israel is Forever” gala, on November 13, 2024 in Paris, on the eve of the 2025 UEFA Nations League match between France and Israel © AFP – Dimitar DILKOFF Maccabi fans also distinguished themselves before the game by singing anti-Arab chants and burning a Palestinian flag on the central Dam Square. But there is no question of the French authorities giving up on organizing the match. The day after the events in Amsterdam, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau ruled out this possibility, taking the opposite view to Belgium, which had refused to host Israel on September 6 in Brussels, and had decided to face its opponent in Debrecen, Hungary. – 4,000 police officers and gendarmes – “Some are calling for the France-Israel match to be relocated. I do not accept this: France is not backing down because that would amount to giving up in the face of threats of violence and anti-Semitism,” he wrote on X on Friday. Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau at the National Assembly, November 12, 2024 in Paris © AFP – Ian LANGSDON A total of 4,000 police officers and gendarmes 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, is engaged for the security of the Israeli team, locked in a bubble since its arrival in France on Monday. Only French and Israeli flags will be allowed in the stadium and Palestinian banners, as well as “political messages” will be banned, said police prefect Laurent Nuñez. Any other flag, even from French regions, will be banned, a police source said. Police vehicles parked in front of the Stade de France on the eve of the UEFA Nations League match between France and Israel, on November 13, 2024 in Saint-Denis, north of Paris © AFP – FRANCK FIFE Israel called on its fans on Sunday to avoid going to the Stade de France, but a “hundred Israeli supporters” will be there, according to police sources. “I'm obviously telling them to come. All security conditions are guaranteed in transport, at the entrance to the stadium, during the match. So I want to be both reassuring and very firm at the same time. For those who want to cause trouble, the response from the internal security forces will be extremely firm,” Laurent Nuñez said on France Info on Thursday. The Saint-Denis stadium (80,000 seats) will ring particularly hollow in any case since only 12,000 to 25,000 spectators are expected. We are therefore heading towards the lowest attendance in the history of this stadium (36,842 spectators for France-New Zealand in 2003). – Macron, Sarkozy, Hollande – The grandstand will be full, however. The President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron will be there, to “send a message of fraternity and solidarity after the intolerable anti-Semitic acts that followed the match in Amsterdam”, according to his entourage. The Stade de France on the eve of the UEFA Nations League match between France and Israel, on November 13, 2024 in Saint-Denis, north of Paris © AFP – FRANCK FIFE His two predecessors, Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande, as well as Prime Minister Michel Barnier will attend the match, according to several media outlets. On the pitch, Didier Deschamps' Les Bleus, deprived for the second month in a row of their captain and superstar Kylian Mbappé, will try to secure their ticket to the quarter-finals of the Nations League. Second in their group, they only need a draw to qualify. Even without Mbappé, the task should not be insurmountable, a month after an easy success against the same Israelis in Budapest (4-1). Beyond the security aspect, the shadow of the attacker, who has accumulated setbacks (failed Euro-2024, financial conflict with PSG, laborious integration at Real Madrid, accusations of rape emanating from the Swedish press), will inevitably hover over Saint-Denis. In October, Mbappé's defection did not have too much impact on the performance of the vice-world champions, victorious over Israel and Belgium in Brussels (2-1). Even though Deschamps must also do without the services of Ousmane Dembélé, who has a thigh injury, and will have to remodel his attacking sector, he has all the cards in hand to snatch qualification before wrapping up this group stage and the year 2024 against Italy, Sunday in Milan. All reproduction and representation rights reserved. © (2024) Agence France-Presse
By Teilor Stone
Teilor Stone has been a reporter on the news desk since 2013. Before that she wrote about young adolescence and family dynamics for Styles and was the legal affairs correspondent for the Metro desk. Before joining Thesaxon , Teilor Stone worked as a staff writer at the Village Voice and a freelancer for Newsday, The Wall Street Journal, GQ and Mirabella. To get in touch, contact me through my teilor@nizhtimes.com 1-800-268-7116