Paris probes threats to Israeli Olympic athletes amid tensions over Gaza war

Israel’s Olympic team said some athletes have received threats as they compete in Paris amid larger tensions over Palestinian deaths during the war in Gaza and the threat of a wider regional conflict in the Middle East.

Yael Arad, president of the Israeli National Olympic Committee, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that team members had received “centralized” threats meant to generate “psychological terror” in athletes, without giving further details.

Last week, Paris prosecutors opened an investigation into emailed death threats to Israeli athletes, and the national cybercrime agency is looking into the leak of some Israeli athletes’ personal data online, which has since been taken down.

Prosecutors also launched an inquiry into inciting racial hated after Israeli athletes received ‘’discriminatory gestures” during an Israel-Paraguay match.

Tom Reuveny, a 24-year-old Israeli athlete who won a gold in wind surfing over the weekend, was among those who said he’s received threats. Politics “should be put aside” during the Games, he told AP during a memorial Tuesday for 11 Israeli athletes killed during the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany.

Read more: France 24