France braces for Israel football match after violence in Amsterdam | Israeli-Palestinian Conflict News

Paris, France Thousands of extra police officers are being deployed in and around Paris ahead of a football match between France and Israel on Thursday, which comes a week after violence exploded on the streets of Amsterdam.

Pro-Palestinian groups are urging France not to host Israel's sports teams as the country wages wars and deadly attacks in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Lebanon, arguing that similar measures have been taken against Russia after its large-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, few have secured tickets for the match at the Stade de France, north of Paris, leading some to question the need for a large-scale police operation.

Officials say security will be heavily reinforced during the match. Police officers will be deployed at the Stade de France and on public transport.

The measures are being tightened in part to prevent the kind of clashes that broke out in Amsterdam, the Dutch capital, before and after a football match between Israel's Maccabi Tel Aviv and the Dutch Ajax team.

Leopold Lambert, editor and architect in the French capital, said: 'The atmosphere in Paris, at least for people who have both Palestine and football in mind, is the desire for a strong solidarity action, which will probably have to take place beyond the borders of the country . of the stadium given the enormous police force.

Pro-Palestinian protesters plan to gather in front of Saint-Denis town hall, about a 20-minute walk from the stadium, on Thursday evening to voice their opposition to the match.

Israel is involved in sports, involved in everything else, that's what they want so that we stop talking about Gaza or the genocide, Nadim Smair, a Jordanian Palestinian restaurateur and events producer in Paris, told Al Jazeera.

Europe should censor Israeli athletes

French President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Michel Barnier plan to attend Thursday's match as a message of brotherhood and solidarity after the intolerable acts of anti-Semitism that followed this week's match in Amsterdam, Macron's office said in a statement to AFP.

His words echoed the sentiment among many Western leaders following the match in the Netherlands, labeling the chaos in the Netherlands as anti-Semitic while appearing to downplay the pain caused by Israeli football fans.

On the eve of the match in Amsterdam, Israeli fans burned a Palestinian flag and vandalized a taxi. On the way to the match, videos showed Israeli fans chanting anti-Arab statements. After the football match, people on scooters attacked Israeli fans and others hit them with fireworks. Five Israelis were hospitalized and 20 to 30 were slightly injured.

Other prominent political figures, including ex-presidents Nicolas Sarkozy, Francois Hollande and Gerard Larcher, former president of the Senate, are also planning to watch the match.

We all know what Macron's position is [on Israel]in a sense, even if they go back and forth where they stand, Smair said. To be honest, a game taking place in France and all the news surrounding it distracts from the reality in Gaza.

Lambert said that while Macron has made some performative gestures about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, none of these gestures would make us think he does not fully support the genocidal siege. And by going to the stadium he only makes it even clearer.

Sabine Agostini, a French-Lebanese supporter of the French national football team, believes the match should be cancelled.

First, for political reasons: Europe has censored Russian athletes and should do the same with Israeli athletes. And also for safety reasons. Moreover, football and sports in general convey positive values, which is not the case at all with this match, she told Al Jazeera.

It's a shame that politics interferes with sports

Of the 80,000 available seats at the Stade de France, only 20,000 tickets had been sold at the time, the lowest attendance since the stadium's inauguration was published.

Previously, the worst attendance for a French team match was 37,000 spectators in June 2003, against New Zealand.

Rodrigue Flahaut-Prevot, a lawyer in Paris who holds season tickets for the Parc des Princes and the Stade Velodrome in Marseille, said politics and sports should be kept separate.

I value respect for the law, and today, like all citizens, I deplore the fact that one community attacks another. But most of all, I think it's sad that this issue has become politicized, Flahaut-Prevot said. In France, secularism means keeping religion out of the public sphere. The political debate should be the same, outside of sports.

The violence in Amsterdam was an exception rather than typical for football fans, he suggested.

If we don't stir up hatred between communities, I think people can live completely peacefully, especially in stadiums. Because it's just sport. And it is a shame that politics interferes with sports.

For the France-Israel match, 4,000 police officers will be mobilized, compared to the typical 1,200 to 1,300 when the stadium is sold out, according to Paris Police Prefect Laurent Nunez.

Israeli authorities have discouraged supporters from attending the match in France and warned Israelis abroad against wearing recognizable Israeli or Jewish symbols.

Lawmakers from the left-wing France Unbowed (LFI) party, which sympathizes with the suffering of Palestinians, have added their voices to the calls for a boycott.

There is an active boycott on that game, and many of us definitely won't watch it despite our love for football, Lambert said.

Global opposition to Israel's genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza is becoming increasingly visible at football events.

Last week, Paris Saint-Germain fans unveiled a Free Palestine banner during a Champions League match at the Parc des Princes stadium. French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau criticized the measure and said the banner had no place in the stadium.