Israel Rolls Into Paris Olympics Amid Cheers, Boos and Police Sirens

[Pelican Press 0]

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******* Rolls Into Paris Olympics Amid Cheers, Boos and Police Sirens

It is unlikely that any team has ever arrived at an Olympics the way the men’s soccer team of ******* rolled up to the Parc de Princes on Wednesday night.

Police vans led the way, dozens of them filled with squads of French riot police and surrounded by a phalanx of officers on motorcycles. The Israelis traveled in a cocoon of safety in the center of the huge motorcade, packed into a city bus pressed into special duty for the Games. Then came more vans, more police outriders, more sirens — a stunning show of force with one task: to protect the first ******** participants to take the field of play in the Paris Games.

The security of *******’s team at the Olympics — any Olympics — has been a critical issue since the ******** of 11 athletes and coaches at the Munich Games in 1972. The ongoing war in Gaza and the global protests that have accompanied it have made the Paris Games perhaps the most fraught sporting event featuring ******** athletes in the half-century since then.

For Paris 2024 organizers, then, the mere presence of *******’s delegation has presented the biggest security concern after the sprawling opening ceremony that is set to take place on the River Seine on Friday. It also made the Israelis’ soccer game against Mali on Wednesday an early test for almost every element of France’s security apparatus.

******* has projected calm about its nerves and its security before the opener — “No one is worried,” its coach, Guy Luzon, said on Tuesday — but signs that Wednesday evening would be a charged affair were clear from before the first ball was kicked. ********’s anthem was met by jeers from sections of the half-filled stadium, and some spectators wearing white T-shirts with letters that spelled the words “Free Palestine” were swiftly removed by security.

Gérald Darmanin, France’s interior minister, attended the game, days after he had promised to provide ******* with what he described as “24/7 security.”

On Friday, that show of force meant counterterrorism officers dressed in tactical gear, several battalions of local and national police officers and members of the ***** squad were firmly in place several hours before *******’s team made its way to the stadium.

******* has sent almost 90 athletes to Paris, and ******** officials and the French government have ***** an unusually heavy security blanket over them.

That much was already clear a day before Wednesday’s game, when the team held a training session on an otherwise sleepy morning at a community sports center on the outer edge of Paris. The scene offered an up-close view into just how tight *******’s security will be throughout its stay in Paris.

Police officers with automatic weapons patrolled the perimeter of the center even before *******’s team arrived for training. Inside, more armed agents, some in plainclothes and others from the French Interior Ministry’s close protection unit, took their places on a running track that ringed the field during a training session.

When a group of players broke away to speak with a small gathering of journalists, some of the security agents took up positions nearby. Before the first question, a team media officer insisted that the war in Gaza and ******** politics were off limits.

The players and their coach stuck to the script, talking about their excitement about being in the athletes’ village and their hopes of not only competing, but also succeeding.

“We are very excited, but we have a job to do,” midfielder Omri Gandelman said.

Mr. Darmanin acknowledged this week that the ******** delegation would be granted more protection than any other participants at the Games, and confirmed that ******* had sought — and been granted — dispensation to deploy its own armed agents on French soil to protect its teams and officials.

******** officials made other requests, too. A demand that its chefs be present at all venues where its teams and athletes are present was accepted, as was a request for a soccer training site outside central Paris. But another, that the news media be barred from practices, was not.

Physical security, though, was just part of *******’s preparations. To prepare its soccer team for a potentially hostile reception, ******* also hired a psychologist to work with the players on what they might see and hear.

On Wednesday, members of that team took their first steps onto the Olympic stage, and fans who had traveled to see them said they felt reassured after arriving at the stadium.

Gal Vaknin, 35, said he had arrived on the day of the game from the coastal city of Ashkelon, *******, and was warned not to dress in his country’s blue and white colors by French relatives. He did as he was told, until he reached the outskirts of the stadium.

“I’m very excited to be here, especially being ******** in this time and just to show the world we are normal, we are human,” he said.

The game struggled to hold the attention of some fans as scuffles and arguments broke out repeatedly between fans supporting ******* and attendees brandishing the ************ flag.

The ************ flag is not banned in stadiums — a ************ team is at the Games, too — but some slogans are. But the focus on Gaza meant that at times it felt as if fans of three nations were present at the stadium, with Mali’s contingent relegated to third-wheel status.

The game itself became little more than a sideshow. It finished 1-1.

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