Oscar Gloukh of Israel celebrates with teammates their first goal during Paris 2024 Olympics – Football – Men’s Group D – Mali vs Israel match on July 24, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Piroschka Van De Wouw
Israel’s national soccer team kicked off the group stage of competition at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Wednesday night in a match against Mali, as an army of security personnel stood outside the stadium amid threats and condemnation regarding Israel’s participation in the Games.
The Israeli soccer team arrived at the Parc des Princes stadium with a large police escort that included motorbike riders at the front and about a dozen riot police vans behind them, according to the Associated Press. Armed police officers also patrolled the stadium, and roughly 1,000 French police officers stood guard during the game. The game ended 1-1, with scores in the second half made by two Mali players — defender Hamidou Diallo, who kicked the ball into his own net, and Cheickna Doumbia.
France’s Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin and Paris Police Chief Laurent Nuñez also attended the match. Darmanin previously said Israeli athletes would receive 24-hour protection during the Paris Olympics because of threats made to Israel’s delegation and calls to ban the Jewish state from the Games due to the Israel-Hamas war. The Israeli delegation will also receive additional security details from Israel’s Shin Bet security agency.
“Police forces will have no vacation this summer in order to guarantee everyone’s safety and in particular, delegations deemed sensitive such as the Israeli delegation for which we have reinforced security thanks to our elite units,” National Police spokesperson Sonia Fibleuil said on Wednesday. “All the matches deemed sensitive will see heightened security with special forces and elite units but also a wider security apparatus with special resources.”
Mali has no diplomatic relations with Israel and is against the latter’s ongoing war against Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip, which was started after the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre in southern Israel.
Mali soccer fans loudly jeered with boos and whistles when Israel’s national anthem “Hatikvah” was played before the start of the soccer match on Wednesday. Israeli players were also booed whenever they touched the ball during the game, and there were fans in the stadium carrying Palestinian flags and banners that read “Free Palestine.”
Nuñez previously said 30,000 to 45,000 police officers will be working daily to ensure the safety of all during the Olympics, especially during Friday’s opening ceremony. France is also getting assistance from more than 40 countries that have collectively sent at least 1,900 police reinforcements to help during the Olympic Games, according to the AP.
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