An individual claiming to support Palestinian militant organization Hamas has threatened violence at the Paris Olympics, although there are doubts about his actual affiliation with the group.
In a 59-second video first posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday, July 21, a man whose face is covered with a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf and speaking in Arabic accuses France of supporting Israel – which it referred to as the "Zionist regime" – and providing weapons to the Israeli Defense Forces. (Related: Thousands of applicants for Olympics-related jobs rejected due to terror links and security threats.)
"You helped murder our brothers and sisters, our children," he said, right before showing what appears to be a severed human head. "You will pay for what you have done. Rivers of blood will flow through the streets of Paris."
Maajid Nawaz, a former Islamist and the founder of the British counter-extremism think tank Quilliam, has questioned the video's authenticity, asserting that the man is probably not a member of Hamas and likely not even Palestinian.
Regardless, France has heightened security measures for the Olympic Games, dismantled migrant camps and thwarted an alleged terrorist plot back in May.
French authorities are taking Islamist terror threats seriously, including those on social media. France has experienced several mass casualty jihadist attacks, such as the Charlie Hebdo massacre in 2015, the Paris terror attacks later that year, and the Nice truck attack in 2016, which resulted in numerous fatalities.
The challenge for French security agencies is how to protect the 15 million visitors expected to converge on Paris for the Olympic Games. Part of their preparations include locking down large parts of central Paris ahead of the opening ceremony on the River Seine, the first ceremony held outside of a host city's main Olympic stadium. Over 326,000 spectators are expected to attend the ceremony.
Foreign and domestic Islamic extremists could launch terror attacks during Olympics
Terror expert Peter Neumann estimates that “a couple of dozen [known operatives] are still at large,” which, alongside youthful radicalization, poses the most significant threat.
The shadow of extremist violence in France looms over the Olympics, including the November 2015 attacks in Paris, which killed 130 people and began with a bomb at the Stade de France, the main venue for this year’s Games.
Islamic terrorists may view France as an enemy not just due to its support for Israel but also for its violent and oppressive colonial history, especially in the Muslim-majority North African nation of Algeria, as well as due to its participation in military campaigns elsewhere in Africa and in the Middle East. France has also garnered the ire of Islamists due to its ban on religious clothing, especially Islamic clothing.
Neuman warned that the issue of the Gaza conflict adds more fuel to the fire, and Paris faces the threat of terrorist attacks during the Olympics from a resurgent branch of the Islamic State in Afghanistan, known as Islamic State - Khorasan Province (ISIS-K). Neuman believes ISIS-K is the most capable of carrying out a mass-casualty terrorist attack in Paris, as the terrorist organization has been active in Western Europe and has attempted at least five attacks in recent years.
Security consultant Alexandre Rodde, a reserve officer with France's National Gendarmerie, concurs with Neumann and believes the main threat to the Paris Olympics comes from Islamic extremism. However, he believes homegrown French Islamic extremists may have the capacity to launch large-scale attacks, however diminished they may be due to anti-terror operations in recent years. Domestic Islamist movements have been trying to motivate their supporters in recent years, and Rodde suggested that any attack would likely come from an individual motivated by these groups to target areas surrounding Olympic venues rather than at the sites themselves.
Watch this video reporting on a terror plot at the Paris Olympics.
This video is from the Neroke-5 channel on Brighteon.com.
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