Photographers, professional or amateur, flock to this mixture of red-yellow-green and blue and white. The image is beautiful: Malian and Israeli supporters pose, each with their flag, two hours before the football match between the two nations at the Paris Olympic Games. They are far from thinking about the bronca which awaits the national anthem of Israel, and the messages in the stands calling for the liberation of Palestine followed by altercations during the match.
The meeting was “the subject of an anti-terrorist perimeter” as the resigning Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin explained on BFM TV on Wednesday morning, with “a thousand police officers” mobilized. For obvious reasons, the DGSI (General Directorate of Internal Security) classified the Israeli delegation, made up of 88 athletes, among the most at risk along with the United States, Iran or Ukraine.
Not for the first time, this evening (Monday) the Palestinian Olympic Committee sent an official letter to International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach - in which he once again demanded that Israel be suspended from the Paris 2024 Olympics, which will start in a few days. The Palestinian Football Association also sent an identical letter to FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
The letter 'is a continuation of information we have gathered for months about flagrant violations of the Olympic and FIFA procedures, including those of the Israeli Olympic Committee and the Israel Football Association,' it was claimed.
