Israel’s delegation to the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics received threatening emails referencing the 1972 Munich massacre, phone messages, and even fake invitations to their own funerals this weekend shortly before departing to France.
The Paris Summer Olympics are expected to begin with the traditional Opening Ceremony on Friday. The security of the Israeli Olympians is of particular concern this year as the October 7 Hamas terror attack on the country triggered a massive wave of violent antisemitism around the world that has especially endangered Jews in France, a nation already struggling with nearly a decade of soaring rates of antisemitic violence.
The French left wing has exacerbated anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli sentiment in the country by aligning with the growing population of Muslim migrants in urban areas and amplifying antisemitic sentiments. Shortly before news surfaced on Sunday of the death threats to the Israeli team, a left-wing French lawmaker declared that the Israeli delegation was “not welcome” in Paris to a roaring crowd.
According to the Times of Israel, 15 Israeli athletes received emails this weekend from “the People’s Defense Organization,” which is not a name previously known to be used by any relevant organizations, terrorists, or otherwise. The “People’s Defense Organization” warned it would be stalking the Israelis “at every moment – in the airport, the hotel, and the streets which belong only to us” and that it would eventually kill the competitors.
“The People’s Defense Organization announces that it intends to harm any Israeli presence at the Olympics,” the emails read.
“You’re not invited to Paris 2024. If you come, take into account that we intend to repeat the events of Munich 1972,” the message asserted, concluding, “prepare for the intifada!”
Israel lost 11 of its athletes at the Munich Olympics, killed by Palestinian jihadists going by the name “Black September,” a group affiliated with the political party Fatah, which continues to govern the West Bank to this day. The terrorists broke into the Olympic Village and took the athletes hostage, demanding freedom for Palestinian terrorists and members of the left-wing German terrorist Red Army Faction (or Baader-Meinhof gang). West German police failed to protect the athletes and lost an officer, the 12th casualty of the massacre, attempting to liberate the hostages.
West Germany — and later, the modern German states — for decades rejected any responsibility for failing to secure the Olympic village. In 2022, on the 50th anniversary of the massacre, the Germany government finally agreed to give $28 million to the families of the victims. This year, a recent memorial to the victims was moved out of the Paris City Hall to Israel’s embassy in the country, reportedly “due to the fact that it was destined to be held in the restricted security area prior to the Olympic Games,” according to the embassy.
The references to Munich in the latest death threats have alarmed Olympics organizers and Israeli officials, who are preparing to send their own security detail to the event. Members of Israel’s Shin Bet security agency are already “checking the ground” in Paris, the Times of Israel reported on Monday.
In addition to the emails, several athletes reportedly received chilling false invitations to their funerals.
“Some Israeli athletes, including the Opening Ceremony flagbearer, judoka Peter Paltchik; and swimmer Meiron Amir Cheruti, received invitations to their own funerals,” the Times of Israel reported. “A screenshot of the message sent to Cheruti showed the message inviting him to his funeral and listing his date of death as July 27, 2024.”
Israel is sending a delegation of 88 people to the Paris Olympics, including athletes, trainers, and other assorted Olympic workers. In addition to Shin Bet security, the French government has promised 24-hour protection for the delegation.
“The Israeli delegation is welcome in France,” French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne said this week. “We will ensure the security of the delegation.”
The president of France, Emmanuel Macron, insisted on Monday that France is “ready and we will be ready throughout the Games” as a result of “an immense amount of work which has profoundly changed the country, in particular the area” of Seine-Saint-Denis, the Parisian neighborhood hosting the Olympic Village.
The foreign minister welcoming the Israelis was a direct rebuke of comments by radical leftist French Member of Parliament (MP) Thomas Portes — who represents Seine-Saint-Denis — declaring on Saturday that the Israelis were not welcome.
“We are a few days away from an international event that will be held in Paris, which is the Olympic Games. I am here to say that no, the Israeli delegation is not welcome in Paris,” Portes said. “France’s diplomats should pressure the International Olympic Committee to bar the Israeli flag and anthem, as is done for Russia.”
Sejourne called Portes’s comments “irresponsible and dangerous.”
The Israeli delegation left for Paris on Monday.
“We feel like emissaries of the State of Israel — our athletes, every one of them are here to achieve their dreams, but there is another layer, of a national mission,” Yael Arad, the president of the Olympic Committee of Israel, said before flying out, noting that the team wants to win medals, “but our first victory is that we’re here, that we didn’t give up, that since October 7 we’ve taken part in hundreds of competitions … What is leading us is the flag of Israel.”
Hamas, an Iran-backed Sunni jihadist terror gang, invaded Israel on October 7, killing an estimated 1,200 people and engaging in wanton acts of gang-rape, torture, infanticide, and other atrocities. International leftist groups responded to the killings by condemning the Israeli government for conducting self-defense operations against Hamas to prevent a similar massacre in its stronghold of Gaza.
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