The refrain is always the same. A few days before a major sporting event, La France insoumise (LFI) rises to the occasion and launches a polemic. The selection of Bastien Chalureau in XV de France before the Rugby World Cup, the presence of Israeli athletes at the Olympic Games (JO) in Paris… This time, the Melenchonists have set their sights on the France-Israel match, scheduled for Thursday evening at the Stade de France, as part of the Nations League. LFI has called for the match to be cancelled, on the grounds that “ sport cannot be used to launder the genocide committed by the Israeli state in the Gaza Strip “as explained by Thomas Portes.

For the MP for Seine-Saint-Denis, a fervent supporter of the Palestinian cause, there’s no question of making a distinction between the Israeli soccer team and the Israeli government. Benyamin Netanyahu. Just as the distinction was not made between Russian sportsmen and the war of invasion…