According to a report from the French sports newspaper L’Equipe, a group of fans stormed the Gaza Strip during the Olympic men’s Group D match between Israel and Paraguay at the Parc des Princes stadium yesterday, which ended in a 4-2 victory. His protest against Paraguay has been met with a response.
The French Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (COJOP) has filed charges of “anti-Semitism” against fans who protested against Israel by flying the Palestinian flag during the games and holding up a banner reading “Genocide Olympics”, in a move that has sparked criticism from fans worldwide.
The Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed that an investigation had been opened into the incident.
During the match, a group of fans unfurled a banner reading “Genocide Olympics” to protest against Israel’s continued attacks on Gaza and its calls for the country to be banned from the Olympics, but stadium officials quickly intervened and removed the banner.
Before the Olympics, there were calls in the international community for a boycott of Israel, similar to that of Russia, and calls for Israel to be banned from participating in Olympic events and for the Israeli flag not to be flown at games.
However, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), responsible for hosting the Olympics, did not decide to ban Israel from entering the country, and French President Emmanuel Macron called for Israel to condemn the Russia-Ukraine war and Israel’s attack on Gaza, arguing that these are completely different situations, and commented that such sanctions cannot be applied to Russia.
Macron had said Israeli athletes should be able to compete under their country’s flag.
France will host the Olympics until Aug. 11. The organization, which will be held in Paris, is taking part in the games, which are expected to attract 10,500 athletes from 206 delegations and about 16 million tourists.
Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since October 7 have killed at least 39,324 Palestinians, including 16,172 children and 10,798 women, and injured 90,830.
