Israel has deployed undercover agents to protect athletes at the Paris Olympics amid a worrying rise in threats of anti-Semitic violence across Europe.
Armed Shin Bet agents are preparing to provide security for some 88 Israeli athletes and their staff, but not everyone will have their own bodyguard, according to Israel’s culture minister.
Miki Zohar told The Telegraph that they had been planning the biggest ever security operation for Israeli athletes for more than a year, while doubling the team’s security budget.
The move comes as threats against Jews and Israelis continue to rise at an alarming rate amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Middle East.
Former Shin Bet official Lior Akerman also told the paper that the officers will be “equipped with weapons and technologies” and will also benefit from assistance from local security and police forces.
Israel has deployed armed Shin Bet officers to protect some 88 Israeli athletes and their staff at the Paris Olympics. Pictured: A police officer stands guard near Notre Dame Cathedral as the security perimeter is deployed for the opening ceremony ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics
The security operation has been described as the “largest” ever carried out against Israeli athletes. Pictured: French armed forces stand guard at the Arc de Triomphe on July 20, 2024
The massive security effort will begin from the moment the athletes arrive in Paris, throughout each stage of the games and until the moment they return to Israel.
Akerman said that thanks to the “combination of Israeli experience and knowledge with cooperation with local security forces,” Israel now has “an excellent and comprehensive response to the security of the delegation.”
Former Shin Bet chief Yaakov Peri echoed Akerman’s statement, confirming that Israeli secret agents were probably already in France and carrying out checks there.
He also called the operation “one of the most difficult security challenges” any Israeli delegation has ever faced.
“The threat against the team can come from anywhere. There is no doubt that there is danger,” Peri warned in a chilling tone.
The former chief added that the potential danger could be initiated by Hamas or other terrorist groups, “but Iran is behind it all and France is of particular concern because of the level of anti-Semitism there.”
Thanks to the carefully planned scale of the operation, the Israeli athletic team will not have to avoid any event or location and will be able to move freely around the venue and location as “normal.”
France is considered a “category 2” country, meaning the Israeli government believes it is a “potential threat” to Israelis.
The massive security effort will begin from the moment the athletes arrive in Paris until the moment they return to Israel. Pictured: Police stand guard at the security perimeter around the Seine to allow the passage of people on July 20, 2024
Since the start of the war on October 7, when Hamas militants stormed a music festival in southern Israel killing some 1,200 people, the Israeli government has repeatedly issued travel warnings to its citizens traveling abroad due to a “growing threat from Iran, together with Hamas and jihadist groups, which are vigorously promoting attacks against Israelis and Jews.”
The massive security operation ahead of the Olympics starting next Friday comes after prominent French Jews raised the alarm after the left-wing alliance New Popular Front (NFP) won a surprise victory in parliamentary elections on July 7, criticising one of its key figures for alleged anti-Semitism.
The NFP alliance, whose member parties include the Socialists and divisive leader Jean-Luc Melenchon’s far-left France Insoumise (LFI) party, surged to victory with 182 seats in parliament ahead of President Macron’s centrist coalition, Together, on 168.
The far-right National Rally (RN) party finished third with just 143 seats, despite having led convincingly after the first round of voting just two weeks ago.
Critics had denounced the RN ahead of the July 7 runoff election, calling it a racist party riddled with xenophobia.
But LFI leader Mélenchon is extremely unpopular among France’s Jewish population, many of whom accuse him of anti-Semitic sentiments.
Moshe Sebbag, rabbi of the Great Synagogue of Paris, said after the election that “it seems that France has no future for Jews” and advised younger Jews “to go to Israel.”
“People my age, who have made our lives here… fear for the future of our children,” he said. The times of Israel.
Anti-Semitic acts in France have tripled in the first few months of 2024 compared to the same period last year, official figures show.
Of the 1,676 anti-Semitic acts recorded in 2023, 12.7 percent took place in schools
