Far‑left French politician sparks fury over call to ban Israeli athletes

Thomas Portes, a politician from France’s far-left party La France Insoumise, caused a stir by saying that Israeli athletes are "not welcome at the Paris Olympic Games." On Sunday, the mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, demanded that his party be outlawed.

Portes spoke on Saturday evening at a rally in support of Palestinians.

- The Israeli delegation is not welcome in Paris. Israeli sportspeople are not welcome at the Paris Olympic Games - said the deputy.

He also stated that the Olympic date should be used and "all mechanisms at our disposal" should be employed to achieve "mobilization."

In a statement to BFMTV, the deputy also declared that French diplomacy should have demanded from the International Olympic Committee that the "Israeli flag and anthem not be allowed at the games, as was done with Russia."

The chairman of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France, Yonathan Arfi, called Portes' remarks "irresponsible." He compared the deputy's statements to targeting Israeli athletes and reminded of the terrorist attack during the Munich Olympics in 1972. Eleven members of the Israeli Olympic team were killed during the attack.

The mayor of Nice demanded the implementation of procedures to dissolve La France Insoumise and revoke its public support. Lawyer Muriel Ouaknine-Melki, head of the French organization OJE (European Jewish Organization), announced filing an official complaint.

The aforementioned far-left party demands, among other things, the recognition of Palestinian statehood and led a very controversial campaign for it - its deputies demonstrated Palestinian flags during sessions of the French parliament. The party is accused of exploiting the conflict in Gaza and the negative sentiments it triggered against Israel to gain the votes of pro-Palestinian voters.