Three plots to attack the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris and other parts of France were foiled by the authorities, the country’s national counterterrorism prosecutor has revealed.
Olivier Christen said five people, including a minor, were arrested over plots that included plans to attack “Israeli institutions or representatives of Israel in Paris” during the Olympics.
Christen told broadcaster France Info, “The Israeli team itself was not specifically targeted.”
Thousands of athletes and spectators from around the world traveled to France to participate in or watch the Olympic Games, which took place between July 26 and Aug. 11.
Christen said the five suspects remain in pre-trial detention and are not being identified, as is common in French law.
He did not go into detail about the plots, or whether they were related to the Israel–Hamas war, which broke out on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists attacked Israel and killed 1,200 people.
There has been a big uptick in anti-Semitism and anti-Israel protests across Europe during the conflict.
But Christen told France Info that jihadist threats dominated the foiled plots and that 80 percent of legal proceedings against terrorist suspects have involved Islamic extremist ideology that still influences France’s youth.
Threat to Soccer Tournament
In May, an 18-year-old man from Chechnya, a Muslim-majority region of Russia, was arrested on suspicion of being behind a plan to attack Olympic soccer events in the southern city of Saint-Etienne.Christen said the plan was to target “bar-type establishments around the Geoffroy Stadium.”
Spain beat France in the men’s final in Saint-Etienne, while the United States beat Brazil in the women’s final.
The suspect, who in accordance with French law was not named, was accused of planning “a violent action” that echoed ISIS’s ideology.
It was unclear whether that incident was one of the three plots that had been foiled.
France was on its highest security alert during the Olympics..
In the run-up to the Games, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin warned of the threat of terrorist attacks from Islamic extremists and Iranian-backed pro-Hamas groups.
Darmanin also warned of a threat to security from environmental activists and far-right groups and said there was also a danger from Russian cyberattacks.
Christen said the counterterrorism authorities in France had carried out a number of house searches in the run-up to the Olympics and had also put several suspects on house arrest during the period.
Echoes of Munich 1972
An attack on Israeli officials or representatives during the Paris Olympics would have been a chilling echo of the infamous attack in Munich in 1972.Last week marked the 52nd anniversary of the attack on Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics.
Early on Sept. 5, 1972, members of the terrorist group Black September—an affiliate of the Palestine Liberation Organization—stormed the athletes’ Olympic Village apartment.
Eleven Israeli athletes were ultimately killed in the attack.
A police officer and five of the terrorists were also killed during a botched rescue attempt.
In August, a number of sold-out concerts by U.S. pop star Taylor Swift were canceled following the discovery of a terrorist plot targeting her fans.
Three teenagers between the ages of 17 and 19 were arrested in Vienna and nearby Ternitz and have been accused of planning a terrorist attack against Swift’s three sold-out concerts on Aug. 8, 9, and 10.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
