Getty ImagesSome soccer fans attending the European Nations League match in Paris between France and Israel whistled and cheered as the Israeli anthem played at the start of the game.
Thursday’s game was played in front of large crowds and heavy security a week after violence in Amsterdam between pro-Palestinian protesters and visiting Israeli fans.
Despite fears of a repeat of the violence in Amsterdam, there were few incidents on social media in the first half of the match, which ended in a 0-0 draw.
President Emmanuel Macron – who attended the match with Prime Minister Michel Barnier – said earlier that France would not tolerate discrimination.
AFPThousands of police officers were deployed to ensure security at the Stade de France in areas north of Paris and on public transport, while the anti-terrorist police unit protected the visiting Israeli delegation.
An AFP news reporter from France saw officials intervene to stop clashes between rival fans.
According to the Reuters news agency, about 100 Israeli fans defied travel warnings from their government and sat in a corner of the 80,000-capacity stadium, which was not full for the fifth time.
Waving yellow balloons, they chanted “Free the Hostages” referring to the Israelis held in Gaza by Hamas soldiers, the organization reported.
Before the match, several hundred demonstrators gathered in a square near the stadium to wave the flags of Palestine, Lebanon and Algeria in protest against the war in Gaza.
“We don’t joke about killing people,” read another banner.
Israel has denied the allegations of genocide as baseless and wildly distorted.
It launched a campaign to destroy Hamas following the group’s unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7 last year in which around 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were captured.
More than 43,700 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in the area.
Politicians across Europe condemned the “return of antisemitism” afterwards Israeli supporters are being chased through the streets of Amsterdam.
Maccabi fans also engaged in vandalism, tearing down the Palestinian flag, attacking a taxi and chanting anti-Arab slogans, according to city authorities. They were then attacked by “small groups of insurgents… on foot, motorcycle or car”, the city said in a 12-page report.
AFPThe violence between Israel and its neighbors in the Middle East has the potential to spill over into Europe.
France, Belgium and the Netherlands all have large Muslim populations of North African origin and live in close proximity to very small Jewish populations, particularly those closely related to Israelis.
In a show of solidarity with European Jews after Amsterdam, President Emmanuel Macron attended Thursday’s game along with Prime Minister Michel Barnier and former presidents François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy.
AFPFans were told to expect ID checks before the game and bars and restaurants in the area were told to close from the afternoon.
The Stade de France was the scene of a dangerous breakdown of law and order in the 2022 UEFA Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid. However since then the Rugby World Cup and the Paris Olympics have both been held peacefully.
France’s far-left party France Unbowed (LFI) – which sides with the Palestinians and Lebanon in the conflict with Israel – called for Thursday’s match to be called off, or at least for Macron to refuse to attend.
“We don’t want our head of state to respect a country that commits genocide,” said LFI Deputy David Guiraud.
But Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said there was no question of canceling or moving the game. “France does not give a chance to those who sow hatred,” he said.
France and Israel are in the same group in the Uefa competition, alongside Italy and Belgium. In their first leg – played in Budapest – France beat Israel 4-1.
The pre-match tension was already evident on the eve of the match after a pro-Israeli “gala” event was given permission in Paris, which Israel’s right-wing minister Bezalel Smotrich was at one point expected to attend – though. it was later assumed that his “presence” would be via video link.
Several thousand pro-Palestinian and anti-apartheid organizations also held demonstrations in the capital to coincide with the event. Clashes broke out and the police used tear gas as the protesters headed for the McDonald’s on Boulevard Montmartre.
Relations between Macron and Benjamin Netanyahu have come under strain in recent weeks, after Macron accused the Israeli prime minister of “spreading barbarism” in Gaza and Lebanon.
French Jews were also outraged when Macron was quoted as saying that Netanyahu should accept the United Nations’ proposals for a ceasefire because “his country itself was created by a UN resolution”. This was interpreted in Israel as an insult to the Jews who lost their lives in the war for the liberation of their country.
France, on the other hand, was angered when two French officials were briefly arrested by the Israeli authorities at the holy site in East Jerusalem under French administration.
Macron has been described as pursuing a zigzag approach to the Middle East, as on many other fronts, constantly shifting between blunt statements of support for Israel and then its Arab neighbors.
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