The 2024 Paris Olympics will officially open on the night of Friday, July 26 – but already there are warnings that terrorists are looking to disrupt the games. Israel is now loudly warning that its athletes are prime targets.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Friday has sent an alarming letter to his French counterpart, Stéphane Séjourné, informing the French side of an alleged Iranian-backed plot to attack the Israeli delegation of athletes.
“There are those who seek to undermine the celebratory nature of this joyous event,” wrote Katz in the message. “We currently have assessments regarding the potential threat posed by Iranian terrorist proxies and other terrorist organizations who aim to carry out attacks against members of the Israeli delegation and Israeli tourists during the Olympics.”
Katz did acknowledge the “unprecedented security measures” put in place by French security forces to protect Israelis attending the games. He also noted that French authorities rejected some calls among the Left to ban all Israeli participants from the Olympics.
In total 88 Israeli athletes are at the games, and they have reportedly been given unprecedented, around-the-clock protection from both French and Israeli security services. At this point Israeli has not presented any evidence publicly to back its assertion that Iranian proxies are plotting an attack.
Just the night prior to this new warning, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Congress in a nearly hour-long speech which had a heavy focus on the ‘Iran threat’. He claimed that Tehran is behind “all the terrorism” and “all the killing” in the Middle East while making a case that it is the biggest backer of Hamas and Hezbollah.
Worrisomely, police in Belgium have just announced the arrest of seven people on Thursday on suspicion they were preparing a “terrorist attack.” Federal prosecutors indicated it was the result of 14 raids and counter-terror monitoring nationwide.
However, a government spokesman said there is yet no evidence of any link to the 2024 Paris Olympics. There are “no details at this time as to the locations or targets but what was found leads us to believe an attack was being prepared,” a statement issued to AFP said.
It said all of them “are suspected of participation in a terrorist group’s activities, financing of terrorism and preparation of a terrorist attack.”
Already there have been reports of groups of protesters threatening the Israeli delegation in Paris…
À Paris, à la sortie du parc des princes, la racaille tente d’attaquer les supporters israéliens. Bravo aux forces de l’ordre pour leur intervention. #Israel #JeuxOlympiques pic.twitter.com/tmfOR9xWYJ
— Jimmy Bourlieux (@BourlieuxJimmy) July 24, 2024
At this moment while the Gaza war is raging and Palestinian death toll in soaring, Israel is wary of the potential for a repeat of the 1972 Munich Olympic games massacre.
It involved affiliates of the Palestinian militant group Black September kidnapping and killing a group of Israeli athletes. Twelve victims died – almost all of them members of the Israeli Olympic team – in an attack which shocked the world.
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