(Jerusalem) Israeli President Isaac Herzog will be in Paris for the opening of the Olympic Games on Friday, his office announced in a statement on Sunday.
“During his visit, the President will represent the State of Israel at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games and greet the Israeli delegation at the start of the competition,” the statement said.
Mr. Herzog will also participate in a commemoration of the 52nd anniversary of the attack on Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Games.
This competition was marked by a hostage-taking attack on the Israeli delegation by a Palestinian commando, during which eleven Israeli athletes and a German policeman were killed.
Mr Herzog will also attend a ceremony expected to be hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron for heads of state attending the opening of the Olympics.
There will be 88 athletes representing Israel at these Olympic Games, according to the Israeli Olympic Committee.
Several athletes are candidates for medals, including taekwondo athlete Avishag Semberg, bronze medalist at the 2020 Olympics, and gymnast Artyum Dolgopyiat, gold medalist in 2020.
The Israeli delegation must be surrounded by strict security protocols following tensions around the world due to the war in Gaza.
“We are in the midst of a difficult and painful war, which is also reflected on the international stage. At this moment, it is particularly important that the State of Israel resolutely takes its place and appears on all world stages, and especially on such an important stage as the Olympic Games,” Herzog said.
The war was triggered by an attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on Israeli soil on October 7, which resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli data.
At least 38,983 Palestinians have been killed in the Palestinian territory since the start of the war, the majority of them civilians, according to the health ministry of the Hamas-run Gaza government.