OUTRAGE AS FRENCH LAWMAKER SAYS ISRAELI ATHLETES ARE NOT WELCOME AT PARIS OLYMPICS. (PHOTO).

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A hard-left French lawmaker has come under fire from fellow left-wing politicians, as well as a major French Jewish group, for saying that Israeli athletes were not welcome at the Paris Olympics, due to the war with Hamas in Gaza.

France Unbowed (LFI) lawmaker Thomas Portes is “putting a target on the backs of Israeli athletes,” says Yonathan Arfi, head of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France, on X.

Portes said at a rally in support of Palestinians that “the Israeli delegation is not welcome in Paris. Israeli sportspeople are not welcome at the Paris Olympic Games.” He called for “mobilization” around the event.

He later told the Parisian newspaper that “France’s diplomats should pressure the International Olympic Committee to bar the Israeli flag and anthem, as is done for Russia.”

“It’s time to end the double standard,” Portes added.

In response, Arfi says Israeli athletes are “already the most in danger at the Olympic Games,” and recalls the 11 “murdered by Palestinian terrorists” in 1972 at the Munich Games.

Beyond the Jewish group, Portes is also criticized by nominal parliamentary allies in the Socialist Party and by conservatives.

“Of course, Israeli athletes are welcome, like all sportspeople from all over the world. Not for who they are, but for what they do,” Socialist MP Jerome Guedj writes.

France is on its highest state of security, as it gears up to host millions of visitors, athletes, and world leaders during the Paris Olympic Summer Games, which kick off on Friday.

The Paris 2024 organizing committee has already made assurances that “unprecedented” steps will be implemented to secure the Games, including the deployment of 30,000 police and gendarmes who will be reinforced by roughly 20,000 soldiers. In addition, between 17,000 and 22,000 private security agents are expected for the Olympic sites and fan zones.