JERUSALEM: Israel warned France on Thursday of potential threats from Iran-backed groups against Israeli athletes and tourists in Paris during the Olympic Games.
“There are those who seek to harm the festivities of this joyous event,” Foreign Minister Israel Katz told his French counterpart in a letter, copies of which were released to the media.
“We currently have assessments of potential threats from Iranian terror affiliates and other terrorist organizations aiming to carry out terror attacks against members of the Israeli delegation and Israeli tourists during the Olympics.”
France has mounted a vast security operation to ensure the Olympics are safe. Around 18,000 French troops have been deployed to secure the Games in addition to regular police.
All Israeli athletes at the Paris Games, which start officially on Friday, will have round-the-clock personal security provided by elite French police, both inside the Olympic village and every time they leave the compound in northern Paris.
In an address to the US Congress on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for a global alliance against the Iranian “axis of terror.”
He argued that the United States and Israel “must stand together” against Iran and its proxies.
Iran had hailed the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel but said it was not involved in it.
Tensions have soared during the war sparked by the attack, drawing in Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen.
Yemen’s Houthis, along with the Hezbollah group in Lebanon and former Iran-backed paramilitaries in the Iraqi armed forces, are part of a Tehran-aligned “axis of resistance” that supports Hamas against Israel and its allies.
Iran has reiterated support for the groups but insisted they are independent in their decision-making and actions.
On April 13-14, Iran carried out an unprecedented drone and missile attack on Israel, days after an air strike widely attributed to Israel levelled Iran’s consulate in Damascus and killed seven Revolutionary Guards, two of them generals.
Israel warns France of Iranian threats at Olympics Games
https://arab.news/8wyk2
Israel warns France of Iranian threats at Olympics Games
- “There are those who seek to harm the festivities of this joyous event,” Foreign Minister Israel Katz told his French counterpart
- “We currently have assessments of potential threats from Iranian terror affiliates“
Merz says Germany exploring shared nuclear umbrella with European allies
- Germany is currently banned from developing a nuclear weapon
- Britain and France are the only European powers which have a nuclear arsenal
BERLIN: European nations are starting to discuss ideas around a shared nuclear umbrella to complement existing security arrangements with the US, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said, amid growing talk in Germany of developing its own nuclear defenses.
Merz, speaking at a time of increased transatlantic tensions as US President Donald Trump upends traditional alliances, said the talks were only at an initial stage and no decision was imminent.
“We know that we have to reach a number of strategic and military policy decisions, but at the moment, the time is not ripe,” he told reporters on Thursday.
Germany is currently banned from developing a nuclear weapon of its own under the so-called Four Plus Two agreement that opened the way for the country’s reunification in 1990 as well as under a landmark nuclear non-proliferation treaty that Germany signed in 1969.
Merz said Germany’s treaty obligations did not prevent it from discussing joint solutions with partners, including Britain and France, the only European powers which have a nuclear arsenal.
“These talks are taking place. They are also not in conflict with nuclear-sharing with the United States of America,” he said.
European nations have long relied heavily on the United States, including its large nuclear arsenal, for their defense but have been increasing military spending, partly in response to sharp criticism from the Trump administration.
Trump has rattled Washington’s European allies with his talk of acquiring Greenland from Denmark, a NATO ally, and his threat, later rescinded, to impose tariffs on countries that stood in his way.
He has also suggested in the past that the US would not help protect countries that failed to spend enough on their own defense.
Merz’s comments were echoed by the head of the parliamentary defense committee, Thomas Roewekamp, who said Germany had the technical capacity which could be used in developing a European nuclear weapon.
“We do not have missiles or warheads, but we do have a significant technological advantage that we could contribute to a joint European initiative,” Roewekamp, from Merz’s center-right Christian Democratic Union party, told Germany’s Welt TV.
