French political party calls for France's match against Israel to be called off

The president of the LFI group in the National Assembly, Mathilde Panot, justified the request for the France-Israel match to be called off because "the risk of incidents is very high", just five days after incidents involving some Israeli Maccabi Haifa fans who had travelled to Amsterdam for a European match against Ajax.

Thursday's Nations League group stage match will be played at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis amid huge security measures (including 4,000 mobilised police) and with President Emmanuel Macron in attendance.

The LFI, the third largest party in number of deputies in the National Assembly and attracting much of the Muslim vote in France, has been particularly critical of Israel since the 7 October 2023 attacks by the Islamist Hamas militia and the Israeli response to them.

The conflict in Gaza, and later in Lebanon, has increased political tension in France, which has the largest Jewish community in Europe (almost 800,000 people), while its Muslim population is also the largest on the continent (some 5.5 million, 8 per cent of the population).

The French government has insisted that the match will be held and that 4,000 police will be deployed, as well as a ban on Palestinian flags inside the stadium. So far only about 20,000 tickets have been sold for a stadium with a capacity of 80,000 spectators.