Paris: A left lawmaker in France made a statement that Israeli athletes are not welcome at the Paris Olympics, which is to commence next week. The lawmaker’s statement, which he issued in the backdrop of the Gaza war, however, got strongly criticized, Agence France-Presse reported.
A major French Jewish group slammed the statement on Sunday, calling them “irresponsible”. The head of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France said on X that Thomas Portes of the France Unbowed (LFI) was “putting a target on the backs of Israeli athletes”, AFP quoted.
It was in a rally to support Palestinians, Portes said that the Israeli squad is not welcome in Paris. He called for a mobilization around the event. He told the Parisien newspaper later that French diplomats must pressure the International Olympic Committee to bar the Israeli flag and anthem in the event, as what was done with Russia’s. He said that it is time to end the double standard.
In France, the LFI projected its opposition to Israel’s invasion of Gaza as a centrepiece in the campaign for the European elections last month.
In Gaza, around 39,000 people have died since October 7, when Hamas triggered the nine-month-long war. Most of the deaths reported in Gaza were women and children.
Coming down on the lawmaker’s statement, Arfi, the head of the Jewish organization, claimed that Israeli athletes are already in danger, citing the murder of 11 of them in the 1972 Munich Games. He said that the 11 were murdered by “Palestinian terrorists”.