Threats and Support for Israel at Olympics

Israel’s athletes have faced a mixture of threats and support during the first week of the 2024 Olympic games. The threats have ranged from widespread booing at their first football match, and the opening ceremony, to a data leak that has led to their personal details being published on social media, and even direct messages to their mobile phones telling them they will die if they participate.

The data leak has prompted France’s cybercrime unit to push for the personal data to be deleted from social media. That data included blood test results and login credentials which were published on Telegram on Friday.

On the same day, Israel’s foreign minister warned his French counterpart of an Iranian-backed plot to target Israeli athletes and tourists during the games. Consequently, Israeli athletes are being escorted by elite tactical units to and from events, and also given 24-hour protection throughout the games.

Despite all of this, Yael Arad, chief of the Israeli Olympic Committee, says that the response of people at the games has been very different:

"I must say that, on the other side, we get here in Paris so much love from so many people."