Posted on 07/20/24
| News Source: JPost
Israeli Olympians taking part in Paris 2024 have received death threats, hate message and vitriol online over the last few days, Israeli and foreign media reported on Saturday.
Walla reported that, over the weekend, Israeli athletes received online messages written in poor Hebrew. Many also received calls from foreign numbers. On Thursday and Friday, 15 athletes and their teams received identical death threats via email, warning them they would be killed if they arrived in France, Walla reported.
The anonymous email said that the sender intended to harm “any Israeli presence at the Olympics” and said that if any Israeli delegates attended, they would be harmed. The email threatened to repeat the action of Munich 1972 and told the athletes to “Prepare for the intifada!"
During the Munich 1972 Olympics, eleven Israelis were executed by the Palestinian terrorist group Black September. A ceremony, the date and location of which are not yet known, will take place during the Paris Games to commemorate those killed, reported French publication Le Point.
The chairwoman of the Israel Olympic Committee, Yael Arad, said "It was clear to us that such a troll would come. We prepared for it. We instructed the athletes on how to act when it comes and we had many conversations and meetings on the subject,” Walla reported.