The Paris Olympics passed its first major security test as the appearance of the Israel men’s football team was greeted with little more than boos at a half-full Parc des Princes stadium.
France’s interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, had promised an “anti-terror periphery” around the first appearance of Team Israel at the Games amid concerns of large-scale protests in the stadium or worse. The timing of the game against Mali, taking place as the country’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was making an appearance in the US Congress, had only added to the security concerns, but there was instead an eerie lack of atmosphere outside the stadium.
