![](https://cdn-sport.timesofmalta.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/000_364N8D9-scaled.jpg?x57201)
A French hard-left MP sparked a political row Sunday by saying Israeli athletes were not welcome at the Paris Olympics because of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, which one senior minister said had “hints of anti-Semitism”.
France Unbowed (LFI) lawmaker Thomas Portes was “putting a target on the backs of Israeli athletes”, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told broadcaster France 2, echoing criticisms made by a major Jewish group earlier Sunday.
Yonathan Arfi, head of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France, said Israeli athletes were “already the most in danger at the Olympic Games”, referencing the 11 “murdered by Palestinian terrorists” in 1972 at the Munich Games.
French Member of Parliament Thomas Portes has sparked a political controversy by declaring that Israeli athletes are not welcome at the Paris Olympics due to Israel's war on Gaza.
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) July 21, 2024
In an interview with the Parisien newspaper, Portes elaborated, "France’s diplomats should… pic.twitter.com/vU7wCfrDHG
In a post on X, Arfi branded Portes’s comments “irresponsible” and accused him of “legitimising Hamas”, the Palestinian militant group whose October 7 attacks on Israel sparked the Gaza war.
Portes had said at a rally in support of Palestinians that “the Israeli delegation is not welcome in Paris. Israeli sportspeople are not welcome at the Paris Olympic Games” and called for “mobilisation” around the event.
He later told the Parisien newspaper that “France’s diplomats should pressure the International Olympic Committee to bar the Israeli flag and anthem, as is done for Russia”.
“It’s time to end the double standard,” Portes added.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a limited number of Russian athletes will be allowed to compete in Paris as individuals and not under their country’s colours, and only after being vetted to ensure they have not expressed support for the war.
Gaza war divides left
Opposition to Israel’s campaign in Gaza was a centrepiece of LFI’s campaign ahead of European elections last month.
The territory’s Hamas-run health ministry said Sunday that almost 39,000 people had been killed in the fighting, most of them women and children.
Perceived ambiguity in LFI’s response to the October massacre broke apart an alliance of left-wing parties, which grudgingly reformed for this month’s parliamentary polls but has since struggled to find common ground despite coming first.
Beyond Darmanin and the Jewish group, Portes also came under attack from nominal parliamentary allies in the Socialist party and conservatives.
“Of course Israeli athletes are welcome, like all sportspeople from all over the world. Not for who they are but for what they do,” Socialist MP Jerome Guedj posted.
Some LFI lawmakers came out in support of Portes.
“The Israeli flag, stained with the blood of Gaza’s innocents, should not fly in Paris this summer,” MP Aymeric Caron wrote.
Israel’s football team is set to play its first Olympic match against Mali in Paris’ Parc des Prince stadium on Wednesday, two days before the opening ceremony.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s office said Sunday that he would attend Friday’s boat parade on the river Seine and a commemoration for the Israelis killed in Munich in 1972.
![](https://cdn-sport.timesofmalta.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/sportsdesklogosmall-noT.png?x57201)
World Cup News
-
FIFA World Cup
/ 2 days agoVinicius says Spain should lose 2030 World Cup unless racism declines
Brazilian striker Vinicius Junior has called for Spain to be stripped of its 2030...
By AFP -
FIFA World Cup
/ 2 months agoRights groups demand release of jailed Qatar World Cup ex-staffer
Human rights groups on Wednesday called for the release of Abdullah Ibhais, a former...
By AFP -
FIFA World Cup
/ 2 months agoNew Jersey governor says 2026 World Cup will be ‘incredibly safe’
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy on Sunday promised the 2026 World Cup will be...
By AFP -
FIFA World Cup
/ 4 months agoSaudi oil giant Aramco agrees major FIFA sponsorship deal
Saudi Arabia’s state oil giant Aramco and world football governing body FIFA on Thursday...
By AFP
![](https://cdn-sport.timesofmalta.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/000_34KF4EC-80x80.jpg?x57201)
English football
Liverpool ‘colossus’ Ron Yeats dies aged 86
![](https://cdn-sport.timesofmalta.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/000_9YU3GU-80x80.jpg?x57201)