Special forces to guard the athletes from Israel at the Paris Olympics 2024 amid severe death threats
The ever-prevalent Israel-Palestine crisis has now also hit the upcoming Paris Olympics 2024 bringing the Israeli special forces to the fore to protect the country's athletes at the Paris Olympics 2024.
Israeli athletes who are preparing to compete in Paris have reportedly been receiving some very gruesome death threats ahead of the Summer Games. Such is the severity of the threats that it has forced the Israeli special forces to make proper arrangements to ensure no such unfortunate mishap occurs.
There have been various threat alerts received over the last week, Miki Zohar, Israel’s minister of culture and sport, has increased the security budget for the country’s contingent participating at games.
As per reports, the government has deployed special forces to secure the safety of the Israel athletes at the Paris Olympics 2024 with security personnel who will be tasked with protecting the athletes having been equipped with the best of tech and weapons available. The local forces and security agencies in Paris will also be assisting the Israeli security forces.
What are the threats that forced the special forces to protect athletes from Israel at Paris Olympics 2024?
The athletes from Israel at the Paris Olympics 2024 have been targeted with threats through emails and phone calls from unidentified sources. In the letters, there have been threats that state a 'repeat of the events of Munich 1972’, a massacre at the 1972 Munich Olympics, where eleven Israeli athletes were killed. A letter that was retrieved states that the athletes will not be safe no matter where they go in Paris.
More so, two of the Israeli athletes, judoka Peter Paltchik and swimmer Meiron Amir Cheruti, have received chilling invitations to their own funerals.
As the opening of the Olympic Games is now closing in, France is expected to tighten its security measures. While there were reports of expecting no fly zones to be implemented at some stage, the recent violent threats made to the Israeli contingent will probably influence the French security forces and other stakeholders to ponder over the efficiency of the current security measures in place and eliminate any potential loopholes.