Security is tight in Bergamo for Thursday night's Conference League play-off tie between Atalanta and Hapoel Tel Aviv.
    About a thousand Israeli fans are expected to arrive in the Lombardy city.
    A security summit was held Wednesday morning at the prefecture, preceded by a meeting at police headquarters Tueday.
    Unlike previous matches, the Israeli fans will not be welcomed in the outlying Piazzale Alpini area, but in the Campo Utili area, closer to La Dea's stadium.
    The security measures will be the same as those for major European matches which Bergamo has already hosted, police sources said.
    No protests or demonstrations are planned in the city.
    Palestinian flags will be prohibited at the New Balance Arena, and for this reason, there will be screening at the stadium entrances.
    Meanwhile the illuminated sign 'Boycott Israel' was projected onto the outside of the ground by the Global Sumud Flotilla for Gaza.
    "A gesture of light against the genocide in Gaza," explained the Bergamo Ground Crew of the Flotilla, claiming the initiative.
    "You can watch a football match, not a genocide.
    "Boycotting Israel is no longer a political option among others: it is a humanitarian necessity, a moral duty towards the Palestinian people, who are paying with their lives for international silence and complicity," argues the Global Sumud Flotilla, which maintains that "every football match encourages the normalization of violence, every trade deal is complicity." The initiative's authors also call on national institutions to permanently cancel the memorandum of understanding between Italy and Israel on military cooperation and to limit existing trade agreements.
    They also call on UEFA to suspend Israeli teams from sports competitions.
    They further urge Bergamo-based companies to choose "an economy of peace, not war," severing all ties and activities with Israel.

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