France probes death threats against Israeli athletes at Paris 2024 Olympics

France has launched an investigation into death threats and potential anti-Semitic hate crimes against three Israeli athletes a during a football match at the ongoing Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the Paris prosecutor’s office announced on Sunday.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin reported the death threats, and the investigation will be led by the national anti-online hate body, according to a prosecutor’s office statement.

On Thursday, Israel warned France about cyber harassment of its athletes and leaks of personal data that it attributed to Iran-backed groups. Personal details of Israeli athletes, including blood test results and login credentials, were leaked on social media.

Prosecutors are also examining possible anti-Semitic hate crimes during an Israel-Paraguay football match on Saturday in Paris. The match featured chants and banners related to the Gaza conflict. At the Paris Saint-Germain stadium, fans “dressed in black, masked, and carrying Palestinian flags unfurled a banner saying ‘Genocide Olympics,'” and one of them “made gestures of an anti-Semitic nature,” according to a separate statement.

The Paris 2024 Olympics organisers filed a complaint with the police, as confirmed by the prosecutor’s office and initially reported by the Parisien newspaper. An AFP reporter at the stadium noted that about 50 “ultra” fans chanted in French against Israel and about the Gaza war, with chants including “Israel Killer” and “Israel is killing Palestine’s children.” The Israeli anthem was booed by part of the crowd, and some Israeli fans responded with chants of “Free the hostages.”

The fans involved could face charges of aggravated incitement to racial hatred, the statement said. Paraguay defeated Israel 4-2 in the match.

The Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. Israel’s retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 39,324 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, which does not provide details on civilian and militant deaths.