According to the French interior minister on Friday. The game on Thursday at the Stade de France has been recognized as a potential flashpoint, but Bruno Retailleau has stated that France will not “back down”. “A number are advocating allowing the France-Israel matchup to be rearranged. “I am opposed to this,” Retailleau stated on X.
“France is not backing down since that would amount to just giving up in the face of warnings of violence of anti-Semitism,” the secretary of state said. Retailleau stated that he had requested Paris Police Chief Laurent Nunez to take the required security precautions for the match.
Julien Odoul, a politician from Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) party, proposed shifting the match to the island of Corsica on Thursday. Violence erupted in Amsterdam following Ajax’s Europa League match against Maccabi Tel Aviv on Thursday night.
Israeli, Dutch, and European authorities condemned “anti-Semitic” violence on Friday, as Israel sent rescue planes for its residents. Femke Halsema, the mayor of Amsterdam, described the violence as a “explosion” of anti-Semitism that had not been witnessed in a long time, citing “hit and run” attacks on Maccabi supporters by “hooligans on scooters.”