For Arad, the political battle has also reached Paris. In these circumstances, he says, "it is difficult to focus on sport, especially when sportsmen and sportswomen are subjected to death threats, see their personal lives leaked on social networks or are the target of heckling and anti-Semitic attitudes".

She understands that this is a setback, but it has not prevented Israel's 88-member team from winning their first medals at the Olympics thanks to judoists Peter Paltchik and Inbar Lanir, and they have a good chance of continuing to add to their tally in the coming days.

Psychological reinforcement is one of the resources used by the Israelis to better manage the competition. "The main message we have given them is that we are here to compete, to show the national spirit. However, the president believes that this kind of support does not always work "when the pressure against it is so high."

Israel's government has accused Iranian-backed groups of orchestrating a sophisticated campaign of online harassment and phishing attacks. "It's been very tough. You know we are a nation mired in sorrow, in grief since October 7," Arad added, referring to Hamas terror attacks against Israel that left 1,170 dead, according to an AFP tally of official figures.

A recent rocket attack by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah also claimed the lives of 12 children playing football in the annexed Golan Heights, something Arad said "has further affected the team." "I am very pleased that our athletes can take the grief, pain and problems and bring hope and inspiration back home," she added.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has caused controversy at the Paris event. Before the sporting events began, the Palestinian Olympic Committee demanded that Israel be excluded for violating the notion of a truce that surrounds every Olympics and for allegedly killing up to 400 Palestinian athletes and sportsmen. According to an estimate by the Hamas-run health ministry, nearly 40,000 people have died in the 10-month Israeli assault on Gaza, while the territory faces severe food shortages and malnutrition.

Arad rejected the boycott call by his Palestinian counterpart, Jibril Rajoub. "I think it's a disgrace that instead of concentrating on sport, they bring politics onto the playing field," she said. In the same vein, he added that Rajoub is "a convicted terrorist" who has spent 17 years in prison for attacking Israeli soldiers.

Arad also defended Israeli judoka Peter Paltchik, his country's flag-bearer at the opening ceremony, who faced criticism from Rajoub and other pro-Palestinian activists for a post he made on social media last October. Paltchik posted an image of a bombing, launching a message equating Hamas with ISIS. "It's not being against a country or a people, it's being against a terrorist organisation," Arad said in defence of the athlete.

Paltchick was again in the news on Thursday after he won a bronze medal in judo and kissed a military flag next to spectators. Earlier this week, there was a video from the Olympic Village where he spoke highly of the brave IDF israeli soldiers.

According to the Olympic charter “one of the fundamental principles of Olympism is promoting a peaceful society and thletes are not allowed to make political statements”. IOC spokesman Mark Adams said on Friday that he was not aware of such acts and would further investigate the matter before making a decision on possible consequences. "There strong and clear expression guidelines and we continue to remind all NOCs what those are, so we will take a look at that," he stated.

Security around the Israeli team has been exceptionally tight, with elite French police guarding the athletes around the clock and accompanying them every time they leave the Olympic village. Arad, a former judoka who won Israel's first-ever Olympic medal, said that "Israeli competitors are used to being protected since the 1972 Games in Munich, when the Palestinian militant group Black September attacked and killed Israeli athletes in the Athletes' Village." "We have confidence in the security of Paris. And my role, along with that of my team, is to give these athletes the possibility to concentrate solely on sport," he concluded.