Elite cops packing shotguns & battering rams deployed to protect Israeli football team at Olympics amid ISIS threat

AN ELITE French anti-terrorist unit are being deployed to protect the Israeli football team and their fans at the Olympics.

France's BRI Search and Intervention brigade will provide a "ring of steel" ahead of the opening Mali vs Israel football match.

It comes after a series of pro-Palestine demonstrations in the city.

The game will see tensions rise between the two nations after Mali cut off all diplomatic ties with Israel following the Yom Kippur War of 1973.

The heavily armed presence will be the first major test for security operations at the Paris Olympics.

It comes after officials confirmed that Israeli athletes had received threats in the lead up to the Olympics.

According to , the RAF is playing a major role in supplying anti-drone technology, having been handpicked by French authorities.

Armed Israeli agents have also been sent to Paris amid tension over the Israel-Hamas conflict. 

Thomas Portes, far-left MP for the France Unbowed party, said Israelis should be banned from competing in their country’s name, just as Russian teams are not allowed because of the ongoing war in Ukraine.

He said: “No, the Israeli delegation is not welcome in Paris. Israeli athletes are not welcome at the Olympic Games in Paris."

Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF), said such words were “irresponsible and dangerous”.

He said: "They put targets on the backs of Israeli athletes, already the most threatened in the Olympic Games”.

The Paris 2024 Olympic Games is set to become the most guarded Games ever, with more than 60,000 officers from 43 countries set to keep the peace. Security presence is touted to be three times bigger than the London 2012 Olympics.

Drones, helicopters and a huge increase in AI surveillance will be deployed after months of growing safety concerns.

France’s largest deployment of troops since World War Two aims to keep the 15 million visitors and 10,500 Olympic Games competitors safe.

An influx of additional security cameras are expected at the Games with organisers using AI to scan through to ensure safety and security.

In April 2023, French Parliament passed legislation introducing an artificial intelligence-powered security system designed to identify threats to safety.

The systems will be used to monitor crowds made up of 300 or more people by running "intelligent and algorithm-based technology" through the cameras.

It will help police identify crowds, look for abandoned bags and monitor any concerning movements. 

The "patchwork of steel" operation will see security spread across the city rather than being in one centralised spot like London 2012 - a strategy that could prove to be a headache for authorities.

Organisers are preparing for all possibilities during the event with terrorist attacks and protests all looming over the Games.

Alongside the huge security teams a number of aerial units will also be in operation.

Rafale fighter jets, AWACS surveillance flights, Reaper surveillance drones and helicopters with high-level snipers on board will patrol the Paris skies throughout the event.

Security expert Will Geddes says Paris are "throwing everything from physical, to technical, to psychological operations" to ensure they protect the event.

He said: "All the participating nations that will be attending -approximately 34 - will be bringing their own security solutions and expertise to the table.

"This is important not only to protect their own delegation of participants, but also their own citizens, that will be travelling in to view and to support their own country.

"Most Olympics will enable that, and afford that capability, but also it makes perfect sense because it ensures that it can be as safe as possible."

The Paris Police Prefecture has declared a four mile metal barricade will be in action to prevent any trouble.

Dubbed the SILT, or the “belt of steel” the anti-terrorism barrier is set to act as the first line of defence.

Passersby will need to scan a QR code to pass through the makeshift gated wall.

The BRI was originally created to deal with violent gangs, but began to focus on terrorist groups in 2015, following the murderous ISIS attacks on Paris that year.

Suicide bombers claimed 130 lives, and wounded hundreds of others, in a lethal night of violence that started at the Stade de France, where the France football team were playing Germany.

Terrorist outfit ISIS has already threatened chilling attacks on the Olympics.

The death cult posted a propaganda poster showing one of its terrorists seemingly flying an "armed drone" to attack the iconic Eiffel Tower.

Officers have already made a number of arrests ahead of the Games with a 26-year-old being held for allegedly plotting "violent action".