Leading French authors ask for Israel's war on Gaza to be called 'genocide'

Middle East Eye

27-05-2025

The French newspaper Liberation published an op-ed on Monday signed by 300 French-speaking authors, which called for "naming the 'genocide'" committed by Israel against Palestinians in Gaza.
The signatories of the text, which included two Nobel Prize winners for literature, Annie Ernaux and Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio, denounced "the repeated public statements of leading figures such as Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir," who "openly express genocidal intentions".
"The term 'genocide' is not a slogan. It carries legal, political and moral responsibilities. We can no longer simply call it 'horror' or show general and pointless empathy without qualifying this horror or specifying what it is," they argue.
"Just as it was urgent to qualify the crimes committed against civilians on 7 October 2023 as war crimes and crimes against humanity, today we must call it 'genocide'."
The op-ed, signed by Goncourt Prize winners Leila Slimani and Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, also calls for "sanctions against the State of Israel", "an immediate ceasefire" and "the release of Israeli hostages" along with "the thousands of Palestinian prisoners arbitrarily detained in Israeli jails".
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Citing the killing of Palestinian poet and novelist Heba Abu Nada by Israeli bombings on 20 October 2023, the signatories pay tribute to the Palestinians killed "relentlessly" by Israel, "by the dozens, every day" and among them their "brothers and sisters: the writers of Gaza".
"When Israel doesn't kill them, it maims them, displaces them and deliberately starves them. Israel has destroyed the places of writing and reading - libraries, universities, homes, parks."
'No longer a matter of debate'
The authors point out that "the term 'genocide' to describe what is happening in Gaza is no longer a matter of debate for many international lawyers and human rights organisations".
Accusations of "genocide" against Israel have multiplied recently, coming from the UN, prominent human rights groups, a growing number of countries and international law experts.
Earlier this month, an investigation by Dutch newspaper NRC showed that a growing number of the world's leading genocide scholars believe that Israel's actions in Gaza constitute genocide.
Top genocide scholars unanimous that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza: Dutch investigation Read More »
The paper interviewed seven renowned genocide and Holocaust researchers from six countries - including Israel - all of whom described the Israeli campaign in Gaza as genocidal.
Many said their peers in the field share this assessment.
On Sunday, Elie Barnavi, former Israeli ambassador to France and a historian, told TV5 Monde that while he had long been reluctant to use the term genocide for "legal and historical" reasons, he had to admit that "there are genocidal people in the Israeli government".
"They proclaim it themselves: 'We want to kill everyone, we want to destroy everything,'" he said, adding that these statements clearly reflect genocidal rhetoric.
On Monday, the leader of the French Socialist Party Olivier Faure also denounced for the first time Israel's war on Gaza as a 'genocide'.
"Benjamin Netanyahu's government is committing genocide," he told hundreds of supporters gathered in Paris, saying he now embraced the term "loud and clear".
"Genocide is characterised as soon as there is intentionality. Members of the Israeli government are making numerous statements to this effect [...] This policy is unfortunately thought out, planned, and even claimed," Faure added.
"Better late than never," replied Jean-Luc Melenchon, the leader of France Unbowed (LFI), a left-wing party that has been using the word genocide to describe the situation in Gaza for a long time.
Public approve sanctions
If the French government itself has refrained from adopting the term - unlike European countries such as Spain and Ireland, which have joined South Africa's lawsuit accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza at the International Court of Justice - it has showed a much more critical stance towards Israel in recent weeks.
On 13 May, French President Emmanuel Macron accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of "unacceptable" behaviour in blocking the delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza, raising the possibility of sanctions.
French teacher suspended over minute's silence tribute to Palestinians in Gaza Read More »
And last week, the French government joined Canada and the UK in condemning Israel's "egregious actions" in Gaza and warned of joint action if it did not halt its current military offensive.
The threats of sanctions are widely supported by French public opinion, according to a poll published on Tuesday that reported that 74 percent of respondents were in favour.
While 75 percent of respondents support halting arms deliveries to Israel, 62 percent deem necessary the suspension of the trade association agreement between the European Union and Israel, and 58 percent see an embargo on Israeli products as a good solution.
In addition to sanctions, Macron could announce France's recognition of the Palestinian state at the UN during a trip to New York in June.
The measure is supported by almost two-thirds of those surveyed (63 percent), particularly on the left. On the right and far right, support is weaker, with only 41 percent of far-right National Rally supporters in favour.