After minor scuffles in stands at Paris match, Israel holds France to 0-0 tie
Guards quickly separate sides; some French fans boo Hatikvah; 40 arrests; crowd is lowest for national soccer team since Stade de France opened; many stay away amid security fears
PARIS — Security personnel intervened after minor physical altercations broke out at the Israel-France Nations League soccer game at the Stade de France on Thursday night, with some French fans booing the Israeli national anthem before the start of the match.
After the scuffles broke out, security created a buffer zone separating two sections, one of which had a number of Israel supporters waving blue and white flags. The incident was over within minutes.
The game ended in a 0-0 draw — a highly impressive achievement for Israel, which earned its first point in the competition. The French, who secured a place in the quarterfinals with the tie, were the defeated finalists in the 2022 World Cup.
French authorities stepped up security in Paris ahead of the match, hoping to avoid a repeat of the violence a week earlier in Amsterdam, where assaults on Maccabi fans by local Arab and Muslim gangs sparked outrage and were widely condemned as antisemitic.
Police said they made 40 arrests at the game. “The match went very well from a security point of view,” Paris police chief Laurent Nunez told France 2 television, noting that “A fight broke out which was immediately contained by the stewards.”
A security source said one person was arrested immediately after the brief skirmish in the stands and another was detained after being identified from CCTV images.
Around 4,000 police and members of the security forces patrolled inside and outside the Stade de France and on public transport. A further 1,600 civilian security personnel were also on duty.
Some 100 Israel fans defied a warning from their government against traveling for sports events, sitting in a corner of the 80,000-capacity stadium which was barely a fifth full as many stayed away due to security fears.
The 16,611 attendance was the lowest for Les Bleus at the Stade de France since it opened in 1998.
Around 600 members of the Jewish community in France were also among those at the game, traveling to the stadium in buses with a police escort.
A physical altercation at the France v Israel Nations League game at the Stade de France, Paris, November 14, 2024. (Maor Bokobza)
French-Jewish fans Menachem Cohen, 18, and Dov Ber Cerf, 21, said the booing heard each time Israel charged with the ball went far beyond the usual levels of home team support.
“We came because we wanted to show that we support Israel, that we are not afraid of anyone, and we won’t be intimidated by anyone. There’s a God [to protect us], and all will be okay, God willing,” they said.
Attending the game were French President Emmanuel Macron, Prime Minister Michel Barnier, former president Nicolas Sarkozy, former French president François Hollande, Israel’s Ambassador Joshua Zarka and many other French officials.
“We will not give in to antisemitism anywhere, and violence — including in the French Republic — will never prevail, nor will intimidation,” Macron told BFMTV, after the government defied calls from some French lawmakers to postpone the match or move it to another city.
Macron called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before the game to assure him that French authorities had taken the necessary security measures for the match to pass off smoothly, the president’s office said.
An elite police unit guarded the Israeli team from the moment they arrived on French soil. Israel coach Ran Ben Simon said the security had been “extraordinary.”
“We want to thank the security people for protecting us,” he said in a post-match press conference.
Earlier Thursday, several hundred pro-Palestinian demonstrators attended an anti-Israel rally north of Paris in Saint-Denis, where the Stade de France is located.
That came after a larger protest on Wednesday against the holding of an “Israel is Forever” gala in the French capital. Clashes broke out with police firing tear gas and some protesters damaged the window of a restaurant.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
