Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) and French President Emmanuel Macron embrace after their joint press conference on October 24, 2023. (Photo by AFP)
Paris, October 18 (RHC)-- Europalestine co-founder Olivia Zemor says her organization has sent a 27-page report to the International Court of Justice in the Netherlands detailing what she said is French complicity in supporting Israel diplomatically, economically, and, militarily, since October last year.
In its demonstrations, the NGO has also accused French officials of actively encouraging Israel to commit genocide in Gaza.
As early as October 2023 President Macron made an official statement proposing the building of an international military coalition to fight the Palestinian resistance. Also, the French government has explicitly said that it had no intention whatsoever to push charges against the thousands of French citizens who serve in the Israeli army and who are mobilized either in Gaza or towards Lebanon, where they, possibly, commit war crimes.
French President Emmanuel Macron recently denied his country has been supplying weapons to Israel that could be used by its military in its ongoing genocidal onslaught in Gaza.
However, such comments are not enough to assuage the criticism from NGO associations that had been protesting in the French capital for many months, calling for more decisive action from the West and for Israel to stop its ruthless offensive on Gaza, despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease fire.
Gaza's suffering is now a key issue in French politics, with opposition left-wing parties using it as a cudgel with which to beat Macron and his government, effectively echoing the criticism that we hear in so many pro-Palestinian street rallies.
The word genocide has also become the opposition party's regular term to designate the large-scale massacres of civilians in Gaza by Israeli bombing.
Nicholas Shahshahani, Co-Founder Europalestine, said: "The Palestine question is a world question. It's universal, and it makes sense that some political parties, La France Insoumise of Mélenchon, for instance, insist wherever they can, that means, including inside the French Parliament, to defend the rights of the Palestinian people."
While NGOs and opposition politicians say genocide is underway in Gaza, as well as calling for recognition of the Palestinian state and the need to impose sanctions and an arms embargo on Israel, there is little sign France or other Western powers are likely to heed the calls.
