By Karolos Grohmann
PARIS (Reuters) – Israel’s Olympic team feel comfortable with security measures in place at the Paris Olympics, with French forces collaborating with many countries to safeguard the Games, the International Olympic Committee said on Tuesday.
The Games begin on Friday amid pronounced security concerns and heightened geopolitical tensions over the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
During their stay in Paris, Israeli athletes will be protected around the clock. At the 1972 Munich Olympics 11 Israelis were killed by Palestinian militants in an attack on the Olympic village where they were staying.
“With regard to the security of the Israeli athletes we have the full confidence in the French authorities,” IOC President Thomas Bach told a press conference.
“The French authorities are responsible for security. They are working very meticulously, working very professionally, working with 180 other international intelligence services collecting all the information.”
“You could say… almost all the world with very few exceptions. They are contributing to make these Olympic Games game safe and secure.”
It will not only be French security staff guarding the Israeli team for the duration of the Games but officers brought in by the team itself are also attached to the protection of the athletes.
“The Israeli athletes since 1972 always have taken their own additional security measures and so they did this time,” Bach said. “They feel comfortable with this situation as we know from the contact with them.”
The Palestinian Olympic Committee on Monday joined calls for Israel to be excluded from the Games in an open letter to Bach.
In the letter it accused Israel of breaching the traditional Olympic truce, which should run from July 19 until after the Paralympics in mid-September, with its continued military action in Gaza.
Bach said he would not be drawn into political discussions.
“The position of the IOC is very clear. We have two national Olympic committees (NOCs). Both have been living in peaceful coexistence. The Olympic Games are a competition not between countries but between athletes.”
“If we would enter into the political discussion with regard to wars and conflict, at the opening ceremony on Friday we may be in the end with 100 NOCs and not with 206 NOCs, if we would violate our political neutrality.”
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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