ANALYSIS || This Thursday there is a France-Israel in football. But it’s much more than football after what happened a week ago
After the anti-Semitic violence that shook Amsterdam, Paris prepares for a football game with Israel
analysis of Joseph AtamanCNN
With thousands of additional security agents on the streets of Paris and a “double ring” of security around the national stadium, France is not taking any risks in the football match scheduled for this Thursday against Israel.
After shocking scenes of violence in Amsterdam last week – with accusations of an organized “hunt” for Jews following days of unrest with supporters of the Israeli club Maccabi-Tel Aviv – the French capital is determined to avoid a repeat.
Around 4,000 officers and 1,600 stadium staff will be deployed to police the game, with around 2,500 of those officers around the stadium itself, Paris police chief Laurent Nunez announced.
Last year, at the French Cup final, around 3,000 police officers and 1,400 employees were deployed, reports BFMTV, a CNN affiliate.
The elite RAID police unit will be present inside the stadium, according to the French interior minister, and an “anti-terrorist security perimeter” will ensure two separate identity checks and searches for spectators.
This game comes just days after several nights of clashes in Amsterdam, when at least five people were hospitalized and dozens were detained after Israeli fans were attacked following Maccabi Tel Aviv’s 5-0 defeat against Ajax, in an act of violence condemned as anti-Semitic by authorities in the Netherlands and Israel.
Tensions had been rising ahead of last Thursday’s game in the Dutch capital. Several videos on social media showed Maccabi fans chanting anti-Arab insults, praising Israeli military attacks on Gaza and shouting “f**k the Arabs”. Maccabi fans also tore down flags, vandalized a taxi and set fire to a Palestinian flag, according to Amsterdam police.
This Thursday’s UEFA Nations League match between France and Israel is scheduled for the Stade de France, the centerpiece of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, and around 20,000 fans are expected to attend, according to Nunez . The police chief added that there was low demand for tickets for the game in a stadium that can accommodate around 80,000 spectators.
Fans of the Israeli national team will probably be different to fans at Maccabi’s game in Amsterdam – some of whom have a reputation for hooliganism and violence.
On Sunday, Israel specifically warned its citizens not to watch the game, fearing for their safety. Even so, the authorities are determined that the game will take place.
French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau refused to cancel or move the game, telling MPs that doing so would amount to “giving in to the sowers of hate”. Instead, the country’s main stadium will be transformed into a true fortress.
But the game won’t just be notable for its security.
French President Emmanuel Macron has committed to being present, an unusual move for a game against a relatively minor team on the world football scene. The Élysée Palace told CNN affiliate BFMTV that the president’s presence “sends a message of brotherhood and solidarity following the intolerable anti-Semitic acts that followed the game in Amsterdam.”
Macron will be joined by his prime minister and two former presidents, François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy, in a rare show of unity.
An iron reaction
This game comes at a particularly tense time for politics and sport in France.
Last week, Retailleau demanded responses from Paris Saint-Germain, the city’s main club, after fans displayed a huge poster reading “Free Palestine” in the stands during a Champions League game.
After the game, Retailleau published on consideration” in terms of sanctions against clubs that refused to comply with the rules and police “political” posters.
The minister set an aggressive tone in his first months in office and his response to the Amsterdam attacks was no different. In an unprecedented move, even after last year’s October 7 attack on Israel, led by Hamas, and the ongoing war in Gaza that followed, Retailleau asked prosecutors to investigate a far-left congresswoman’s post about violence in the Dutch capital.
Marie Mesmeur stated that the Israelis attacked in Amsterdam “were not lynched for being Jews, but for being racist and supporting genocide”.
The official French reaction could not be more different.
Macron said the incidents in Amsterdam “recall the most shameful hours in history”, in sentiments mirrored by senior French officials in a flurry of posts on X.
France – like much of Europe and North America – has grappled with a rise in anti-Semitism in recent years, which was accentuated by the October 7 attacks and Israel’s bloody campaigns in Gaza and Lebanon.
In France, less than 1% of the French population is Jewish, but Jews are victims of 57% of all racist and anti-religious attacks in the country, Retailleau told MPs.
France is the country with the largest Jewish population in Europe and one of the largest Muslim populations on the continent. In recent years, French far-right politicians have strived to claim the moral high ground on anti-Semitism.
All this happens amid a diplomatic controversy between Paris and Tel Aviv. Just this week, Israel’s ambassador in Paris was called to the French Foreign Ministry after two French police officers were briefly detained in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem.
The French government has tried to tread a difficult path between responding to Hamas attacks on Israel and rising anti-Semitism in its country, and outrage over Israel’s destruction in Gaza and elsewhere. However, in light of recent events in Amsterdam, the EU is keen to show its commitment to protecting French Jews – this Thursday’s game is the ideal occasion to do so.
