A French hard-left MP sparked outrage among lawmakers and Jewish organisations after he declared at a rally that Israeli athletes weren’t welcome at the Paris Olympics due to the war against Hamas in Gaza.
At an anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian rally, La France Insoumise (LFI) lawmaker Thomas Portes condemned Israel’s participation in the Games and in a speech covered by French daily Le Parisien, called for “mobilization around the event.”
“I am here to say that no, the Israeli delegation is not welcome in Paris,” Portes said at the rally. “Israeli athletes are not welcome at the Olympic Games in Paris.”
The far-left lawmaker’s remarks drew anger from the president of the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions, Yonathan Arfi.
Branding Portes’s statement as “irresponsible,” Arfi accused him of endangering Israeli athletes, and recalled the 1972 Munich Olympics — where 11 competitors from the Israeli team were murdered by Palestinian terrorists from the Black September group — to underscore the dangers faced by past Israeli delegations.
“Since October 7, Thomas Portes has legitimized Hamas,” Arfi wrote on X. “Now, he puts a target on the backs of Israeli athletes, already the most threatened in the Olympic Games. Irresponsible.”
