Mediapart reported that a number of French MPs have expressed concern about their inability to criticize Israel, against the backdrop of heated debates that recently erupted in parliament regarding the position on some Israeli decisions, especially those related to settlements.
On Thursday, France's National Assembly (parliament) rejected by 199 votes to 71 bills submitted by French Communist Party deputies to condemn Israel's "institutionalization of the apartheid regime", while part of the left within the National Assembly called for the adoption of a draft resolution "closer to international law".
Representative Jean-Boulos Lowcock, the bill's editor, explained that he and his team are committed to "the existence of the State of Israel," but defended his and others' right to criticize "the illiberal and colonial deviation of this state" without labeling critics of anti-Semitism or anti-Zionism.
In the draft resolution, which was rejected, Communist Party deputies sought to legalize the boycott of goods imported from Israel, knowing that the work of the BDS movement is politically and judicially criminalized in France.
contrast
Renaissance MP and head of the anti-Semitism group Matthew Lefèvre described the bill as reflecting an "existential hatred of the State of Israel" and rejected what he called "bringing" such a foreign conflict into internal debate, because it fuels anti-Semitism.
According to the Mediapart report, part of Macron's current has actively worked to suppress any discussion of Israeli policy, although some of them denied this, stressing that although France does not interfere in Israel's internal affairs, its criticism is the right of those who want, adding, "We do not criticize the State of Israel, but the Israeli government."
put on
The passage of a law condemning all "anti-Zionist" speech in 2019 – a few months after the murder of an elderly French woman of Jewish origin – makes it difficult to classify criticism of the Israeli government as ordinary political criticism.
This prompted one Ennahda MP to tell Mediapart that "as soon as we take some positions close to the Palestinian position, we are accused of being anti-Semitic, and desecrating our reputation, so we prefer to remain silent."
Another MP from the same party said, "What is unacceptable is the perpetuation of the concept that criticizing Israel means that you are anti-Semitic, which makes me sad because I see that big topics - so sensitive - are dealt with in this way."
The case of French lawyer of Palestinian origin Salah Hammouri was indicative of the state of intense public dispute over Israel, as the French government condemned in December 2022 the decision to deport him to France, while Matthew Lefèvre, a member of parliament for the Ennahda party and head of the Anti-Semitism Group, rushed at the time to file an indictment against Hammouri, describing him as a "catastrophic" figure.
Communist Party member Pierre Darevel mocked Lefèvre's move, saying, "It's Israel that speaks."