Israeli Olympics team to get 24-hour guard amid Gaza tensions and Munich repeat threat
- Email from ‘People’s Defence Organisation’ threatens repeat of 1972 Games attack in which 11 Israelis and 1 German police officer died.
Israeli athletes will receive 24-hour protection during the Paris Olympics, France’s interior minister said on Monday, amid email threats of a repeat of the attack at the 1972 Games in Munich that left 12 people dead.
A French far-left lawmaker also fanned the flames, saying the country’s delegation was not welcome and calling for protests against its inclusion.
The Games begin this Friday amid pronounced security concerns at a time of heightened geopolitical tensions over the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
Israel’s war against Hamas that has devastated Gaza has become a lightning rod among France’s far left, with some critics accusing pro-Palestinian members of antisemitism.
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said in a television interview Israeli athletes would be protected around the clock during the Games, 52 years after Munich, in which 11 Israelis and a German police officer, were killed by Palestinian militants.
According to The Times of Israel, 15 athletes were sent emails by “the People’s Defence Organisation”, which does not exist, threatening to “harm any Israeli presence at the Olympics”.