Scuffles At France-Israel Match After Amsterdam Pogrom

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

PARIS/AMSTERDAM ((Worthy News) – Brief scuffles broke out, and soccer fans whistled and booed as the Israeli anthem played at the start of the France-Israel match in Paris following a pogrom against Jews in the Netherlands, officials said Friday.

Thousands of security forces provided security in and outside the Stade de France stadium Thursday amid concerns about a repeat of last week’s violence in the Netherlands, where Jews were hunted by mainly Arab Muslims, officials said.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who attended the soccer event with Prime Minister Michel Barnier, said beforehand, “France would not give in to antisemitism.”

At one point, it took about a minute for security personnel to step in when a scuffle broke out early in the game between a few supporters in a stand behind one of the goals.

Some of those involved were draped in Israeli flags, but it was not clear what caused the clash,” witnesses recalled. About 40 people were arrested around the match, including 20 who were taken into custody, according to police.

The match, which ended 0-0, was held amid tensions over Israel’s wars against Iran’s proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah, designated as terrorist groups by Israel and most of its allies.

Ahead of Thursday’s match, protests erupted in Paris on Wednesday against a gala organized by what media called “French far-right figures” in support of Israel.

The “Israel is Forever” gala, planned by an association of the same name, was to raise funds for the Israeli military.

GALA CONDEMNED

Guests invited included Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, but his office confirmed he did not attend after a storm of criticism. Smotrich is a vocal advocate of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, also known as Judaea and Samaria

Local associations, unions, and left-wing political parties condemned his invitation to the gala, prompting two protests in the French capital.

He drew international outrage this week by saying he hopes the return to the White House of Donald J. Trump “would clear the way” for Israeli annexation of the West Bank.

Critics say such a move would likely “extinguish Palestinian statehood dreams.”

The French Foreign Ministry called Smotrich’s remarks “contrary to international law” and “counterproductive” to efforts to reduce regional tensions.

Critics also pointed at Nili Kupfer-Naouri, president of the “Israel is Forever” association, who triggered anger in 2023, after the Israel-Hamas war started, for saying “no civilian in Gaza was innocent.” She referred to Gazan civilians found to be holding hostages abducted from Israel by Hamas in their homes.

Amid the controversies, thousands marched late Wednesday through central Paris streets denouncing a “gala of hatred and shame.”

SITUATION ‘UNFAIR’

“Imagine if an association was hosting a gala for Hezbollah or Hamas — there’s no way the police would allow that,” said Melkir Saib, a 30-year-old protester. “The situation is just unfair.”

Groups of pro-Palestine demonstrators broke windows at the McDonald’s and Starbucks outlets along the route, though the march did not turn into the antisemitic violence seen in Amsterdam in recent days, witnesses said.

The outlets’ windows were hit with red paint and shattered by the rioters in a video uploaded to social media and reviewed by Worthy News.

“Complicit,” “Boycott,” and “Free Palestine” were sprayed on the glass, along with an upside-down red triangle that Israeli sources say is used in extremist videos to indicate targets in Israel.

Separately, protesters, including Jewish leftist organizations “opposed to racism and antisemitism,” gathered near the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, chanting slogans against the gala and Smotrich.

Yet French authorities defended the event, with Paris police chief Laurent Nunez saying the gala posed “no major threat to public order.”

Authorities tried to ensure public order Thursday when Israeli and French soccer fans were in the streets of Paris.

MASSIVE SECURITY

Some 4,000 officers and 1,600 stadium staff were deployed to police the game, with about 2,500 of those officers around the stadium itself, Paris police Paris police chief Laurent Nunez said.

It was a far cry from the roughly 1,200 police deployed in Amsterdam in recent days, where Jews were hunted following last week’s soccer match between Amsterdam’s Ajax and Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv teams.

While the Palestinian Authority and others pointed to some violence by hardcore Israeli soccer fans, the Dutch government said these incidents “paled in comparison to the hunting of Jews in Amsterdam.”

At least five Israelis were in hospitals, and dozens of others sustained minor injuries in what attackers called the “Jews hunt.”

The Israeli national carrier, EL AL Airlines, sent several rescue planes to evacuate some 3,000 fans who traveled to Amsterdam to cheer on their team.

Israel’s government advised its citizens to avoid attending cultural and sporting events taking place abroad this week following Amsterdam’s first pogrom since World War Two.

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