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War in Gaza: what the Franco-Israeli perpetrators of abuses risk
Fighting continues to rage in the Gaza Strip where more than 32,000 Palestinians have been killed in five months. The occupied West Bank is in turmoil and tensions and clashes are daily on the Lebanese-Israeli border. The Israeli army is on all fronts. In its ranks, many French and dual nationals who deliberately chose to go into combat.
An Israeli soldier on an armored personnel carrier (APC), near the Israel-Gaza border, southern Israel, December 28, 2023. REUTERS - VIOLETA SANTOS MOURA
By: Anne Bernas Follow
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“
You saw his back. They tortured him. He pissed himself. Son of a bitch. Son of a whore...
" Since Monday March 18,
a video has gone viral
on social networks: that, visibly real according to the RFI verification unit, of an Israeli army soldier speaking fluent French, without an accent , who films with his phone a Palestinian detainee from
Gaza
taken out half-naked and tied up from a
pick-up
, commenting on the scene in offensive terms.
Since October 7, soldiers, including many French and/or dual nationals, have been posting photos and videos of their daily lives on social networks. In some of them, we see parties in the houses taken from the Palestinians of Gaza, macabre scenes where they write messages on shells against defenders of the Palestinian cause in France, a soldier who sings
La Marseillaise
by promising the Palestinians the worst horrors before entering the Gaza Strip, abuses committed against detainees, looting of houses, etc. Certain French media, such as
JDD
or
Europe1
, have also collected and broadcast this type of testimony.
Israel has 9.5 million inhabitants. Among them, 170,000 soldiers and some 365,000 reservists. Comparatively, France and its 68 million inhabitants have 200,000 soldiers and 43,000 reservists. Furthermore, military service in Israel is compulsory, it is three years for men and two years for women (except for the
ultra-Orthodox
).
Read alsoGaza: aid restrictions imposed by Israel “could constitute a war crime”, according to the UN
Since the start of the war in Gaza, many foreigners and/or dual nationals living abroad have decided to join the ranks of the Israeli army. Although the figures are not officially communicated by the army, the number of French volunteers and dual nationals among the army personnel is estimated at 4,000, or 2%. “
4,185 soldiers in regular service have French citizenship
,”
the army spokesperson
said in 2018 .
France is thus the second foreign nationality most represented in the Israeli army after the United States. On the
official army website,
you can find out about the conditions for joining the troops: age, level of Hebrew, IQ, Jewish ancestry (at least one grandparent of Jewish faith).
Note that only a dozen countries in the world open the doors of their army to foreign nationals, including France and the United States, but only Israel does so on religious criteria alone.
What do perpetrators of abuses risk?
Until now, no prosecution against French nationals enlisted in the Israeli army and who are the perpetrators of abuses has taken place since the first wars in Gaza. To date, there have only been complaints against French companies - still under investigation - some of whose weapons or electronic components had been found in Gaza.
Questioned on Tuesday March 19 during a press briefing on possible abuses committed by French nationals, the deputy spokesperson for French diplomacy Christophe Lemoine declared: “
We will not investigate what Franco [soldiers] will do. -Israelis vis-à-vis their military obligations in Israel.
» As for legal proceedings against them in the event of crimes against the Palestinians of Gaza, the deputy spokesperson for the Quai d'Orsay referred the question to the establishment of evidence or the filing of complaints. On Wednesday March 20, Prisca Thevenot, government spokesperson, questioned specifically about the video broadcast since Monday on social networks, went in the same direction, without further details. In the process, LFI deputy Thomas Porte announced his intention to take legal action on the subject. Finally, Thursday March 21, Christophe Lemoine chose to provide “
clarification on the subject of Franco-Israeli soldiers engaged in the Israeli army,
adding that
French justice is competent to hear crimes committed by French nationals abroad. foreigner, including in the context of the current conflict.
» A clarification undoubtedly prompted by the content of the video of March 18.
Participating in combat alongside the Israeli army is not in itself a criminal offense according to French legislation which recognizes dual allegiance, unlike, for example, French fighters who joined Daesh in Syria, a group described as terrorist. Note also that, paradoxically, the Israeli occupation, for example in the West Bank, constitutes according to the UN and the European Union a violation of international law and therefore a war crime.
“
However, today there is no doubt about the scale of the crimes. People sometimes have the impression that war crimes are limited to murder, torture or rape. There are actually many other war crimes. For example, obstructing humanitarian aid or starving the population also constitute war crimes,
analyzes Johann Soufi, an international law lawyer.
Secondly,
he continues
, there is also often the perception that the perpetrator of a crime under international law, whether it is a war crime, a crime against humanity or a genocide, comes down to its direct author. However, there are many other modes of responsibility, such as complicity, or failure to prevent or punish a crime when one has command responsibility. Thus, the entire range of crimes and modes of responsibility must be examined. Today, given the scale of crimes committed in Gaza and the West Bank, there is a sufficiently high probability that French people have been involved in crimes, in one way or another. This possibility triggers the obligation for the French courts to investigate these facts. In my opinion, the French authorities must carry out investigations into all nationals returning or who will return from Gaza.
»
⚠️ If this is the government's official position, it's serious!
France has a duty to investigate its nationals possibly involved in crimes in Gaza. And there could be many of them.
🧵In this thread, I explain why. https://t.co/Z3kPy8mFU7
— Johann Soufi (@jsoufi) March 19, 2024
“
There will be no peace without justice
”
If there were accusations against a particular soldier, a complaint could then be triggered, but in reality, it could above all be a general complaint against X from a group or an association, an NGO , an investigation launched in particular by the Crimes against Humanity unit, placed under the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office (Pnat), an investigation into all the crimes which today take place in Gaza and which would fall under the jurisdiction of the Pnat, therefore war crimes or crimes against humanity. “
In my opinion, what is needed is a systematic interrogation by the judicial authorities or the intelligence services of French soldiers who return from Gaza to find out what happened, to find out what the nature of of their participation in military operations on site
,” continues the lawyer.
As for images and videos broadcast by French or dual nationals, some could therefore be the subject of investigations. Those of scenes of torture, of course, but also, for example, a theft of private property in the context of an armed conflict can constitute the war crime of pillage, as can destruction of civilian property.
“
There is no doubt that the Israeli army is committing war crimes and crimes against humanity on a massive scale in the Gaza Strip. In this context, the French authorities have the obligation, first of all, to investigate and, if the facts are proven, to punish their nationals guilty of crimes under international law. This obligation arises from France's accession to several international treaties, notably the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their additional protocols of 1977, as well as France's membership in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. It is therefore not only a moral and political requirement, but a legal obligation which arises from the treaties and conventions to which France is a party. France's legal obligation in this regard is indisputable.
»
And Johann Soufi concludes: “
I think that in the Middle East as elsewhere, there will be no peace without justice. France must participate in the fight against impunity for crimes committed in Palestine and Israel, especially when several French nationals are potentially involved in these crimes.
» Concerning possible legal consequences in France, in accordance with the constitutional principle of separation of powers, justice exercises this competence independently, underlined for his part the deputy spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Also read: At the UN, doctors returning from Gaza describe an unspeakable situation
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