France freeze on Gaza evacuations 'predates alleged antisemitic incident'
On 1 August, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot announced the suspension of evacuations from Gaza following the discovery of alleged antisemitic posts by a Palestinian student who had been evacuated by French authorities.
The student, who was due to pursue studies at Sciences Po Lille next year, was deported to Qatar. Middle East Eye has not been able to independently verify the alleged posts in question.
Left wing politicians and human rights groups condemned the decision to freeze all evacuations as a result.
New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch
Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters
In an op-ed, more than 1,600 academics denounced a "chilling cynicism", accusing "France [of] exacerbating its participation in the Israeli project of erasure and extermination of Palestinians underway in the Gaza Strip".
However, according to French outlet Mediapart, the suspension of evacuations predates the incident involving the Palestinian student.
The French outlet contacted Palestinians who had been selected to participate in PAUSE, a program to bring artists and scientists in exile to France.
Candidates were offered positions at higher education institutions or universities in France.
France freezes Gaza evacuations after evacuee's alleged antisemitic posts Read More »
The Palestinians on the scheme told Mediapart that French authorities, through their consulate in occupied East Jerusalem, had told them they would be evacuated before the summer.
They learned afterwards - well before the alleged antisemitic incident - that their evacuations had been postponed without explanation.
"We initially thought it was because of the war between Israel and Iran", one of the respondents told Mediapart.
'Then there was a resumption of evacuations, around 20 June, but only of students leaving alone, without their families."
In response to their requests for clarification, French authorities urged the students to "be patient" and said they were encountering complications securing visas for family members.
French officials told the Palestinians affected that they were nevertheless trying to resolve the complications.
Cogat, the Israeli military agency responsible for civil affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories, denied in a statement to Mediapart that Israel had been restricting the departure of Gaza residents.
'Ad hoc or political' evacuations
Seperately, the French foreign ministry has stopped responding to inquiries about the evacuation of sick Palestinian children.
A number of children have been awaiting transfer since May, Mediapart reported, citing Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
The outlet spoke to Hani Isleem, a project coordinator at MSF who handles medical evacuations from Gaza.
France's recognition of Palestinian state: A 'symbolic' move with questionable effectiveness Read More »
According to Isleem, French hospitals have the capacity to accommodate these patients but the country had not moved to evacuate them.
A diplomatic source said "France carries out medical evacuations for the benefit of injured or sick children from Gaza within the framework of a criteria that has been put in place by and is managed by WHO [World Health Organisation".
The WHO estimates that at least 12,000 sick and wounded Palestinians are awaiting evacuation from Gaza.
Paris announced on 20 March that it had taken in 25 Gazan patients since the beginning of 2024.
President Emmanuel Macron had promised in November 2023 that France would evacuate up to 50 if necessary.
In total, since the beginning of 2025, Paris has evacuated 292 Palestinians, according to the ministry of foreign affairs.
Isleem denounced French evacuations as "ad hoc or political" and intended for public relations purposes.
France is one of several western states that has announced it will recognise a Palestinian state at the upcoming UN General Assembly in New York next month.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arabian Post
31 minutes ago
- Arabian Post
Mali Investigates Alleged Foreign Plot to Destabilise Nation
Malian authorities have launched an extensive investigation into an alleged plot to destabilise the country, with the arrest of a French national and several high-ranking generals. The arrests come amidst mounting tension and accusations that foreign powers are attempting to undermine Mali's stability. The government's claims have drawn significant attention, as they allege involvement from foreign actors, raising concerns of escalating international interference in the country's internal affairs. Authorities reported that the French national, whose identity remains undisclosed, was detained after being accused of participating in a complex network aiming to destabilise Mali's government. The operation is reportedly linked to a larger conspiracy involving several Malian military officers, including top generals, who are now under investigation for their potential role in facilitating foreign influence. The Malian government's allegations have added a layer of complexity to the country's political landscape, which has already been marred by several years of conflict and military coups. Since the 2021 coup that ousted President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, Mali has been under the leadership of a military junta, which has faced both domestic and international scrutiny over its handling of security and governance issues. ADVERTISEMENT The arrest of the French national has sparked a wave of reactions, particularly from Paris, which has been involved in Mali's security through its Operation Barkhane. This French military operation aimed at combating Islamist insurgencies in the Sahel region was officially concluded in 2022 after relations between Mali and France deteriorated. The withdrawal of French forces marked a significant shift in the dynamics of the region, with Mali seeking closer ties with Russia, especially through the paramilitary group Wagner. Malian officials have refrained from naming specific foreign governments allegedly backing the plot, but the involvement of external actors has been a consistent theme in the country's rhetoric. Mali's transitional government, led by Colonel Assimi Goita, has positioned itself against Western influence, particularly French presence in the region, opting instead for partnerships with countries such as Russia. This shift in alliances is seen as part of a broader regional trend where former French colonies are rethinking their post-colonial relationships with Paris. Security experts speculate that the plot may be connected to the instability of the wider Sahel region, where extremist groups and organised militias have proliferated, and foreign interests are deeply embedded. The volatile situation in neighbouring countries like Burkina Faso and Niger further complicates Mali's security situation. Analysts have noted that any foreign-backed plot targeting Mali could be an effort to influence the country's stance on counterterrorism efforts and broader geopolitical positioning in the region. As part of the ongoing investigation, Malian authorities are conducting raids and interrogating various individuals connected to the alleged conspiracy. The scope of the operation is not yet clear, but sources within the government suggest that additional arrests could be forthcoming. The junta's commitment to pursuing foreign-backed plots is likely to shape its future interactions with international partners and influence its foreign policy decisions moving forward. The arrest of the generals, many of whom hold significant military influence, has placed a spotlight on the role of Mali's armed forces in national politics. The military's growing prominence in political affairs has raised questions about the country's future governance and the path to democratic elections. The junta has promised to restore civilian rule, but the timeline remains uncertain, and the political environment remains fragile. Internationally, the incident has heightened tensions between Mali and its former colonial power, France. The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs has yet to comment on the specific allegations, but diplomatic sources suggest that France is closely monitoring the situation. The arrest of a French citizen in Mali could exacerbate already strained relations, with the potential to impact future diplomatic and economic exchanges.
Middle East Eye
38 minutes ago
- Middle East Eye
Israel is the last vestige of European colonialism - so Trump defends it at all costs
At a July rally in Des Moines, Iowa, Donald Trump used a telling turn of phrase. While touting the benefits of his recently passed tax-and-spend bill, the American president remarked: 'No death tax, no estate tax, no going to the banks and borrowing from, in some cases, a fine banker - and in some cases, Shylocks and bad people.' 'Shylock' is, of course, a reference to the Jewish moneylender in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice and is widely recognised as an antisemitic trope. The Anti-Defamation League, for example, called the president out for his comment, while Trump, for his part, later claimed ignorance of the term's anti-Jewish connotations. It might be possible to write this off as an isolated comment, but Trump's gaffe is part of a larger pattern of antisemitism linked to his Make America Great Again (Maga) movement. In May, NPR identified three administration officials with close ties to antisemitic extremists, including a man described by federal prosecutors as a 'Nazi sympathiser' and a prominent Holocaust denier. More recently, Trump's erstwhile ally Elon Musk has come under fire for antisemitism once again when his Grok AI bot launched into antisemitic tirades praising Adolf Hitler. All of this contrasts sharply with the Trump administration's stated goal of combating antisemitism and its unapologetically pro-Israel posture. On 29 January 2025, Trump signed an executive order titled 'Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism', providing a pretext for his administration to pursue deportations of pro-Palestine student activists like Mahmoud Khalil. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters One month before his gaffe in Des Moines, Trump followed the Israeli military's lead by bombing Iran and pulling out of negotiations over their nuclear programme. Even Musk felt obliged to make pro-Israel gestures when he toured the sites of the 7 October Hamas attack in a highly publicised visit in November 2023. Odd alliance How do we explain this alliance between the seemingly antisemitic Maga movement and Israel? Analysts usually point to two major factors. First is the power and influence of pro-Israel lobbying groups, donors, media figures and political operatives, famously analysed by political scientists John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt. Second is the role of Christian Zionists in the Maga movement, including prominent figures like the current American ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee. Huckabee has explicitly stated that his pro-Israel approach is rooted in his belief that the rapture is imminent and that Israel will be the site of unfolding Biblical prophecy during the end of days. While these factors both play an important role in shaping the Maga-Israel alliance, neither explains the deep intensity of the Trump-era American right's attachment to Israel. The core of the Maga-Israel alliance is not about votes, theology or even security: it is a project of historical amnesia. It seeks to erase the moral and political lessons of decolonisation I believe a more foundational impulse is at work, one tied not only to theology or lobbying power, but to historical memory. This impulse lies at the intersection of multiple programmes currently underway - all intent on rehabilitating colonialism's reputation. These include suppression of teaching and speaking about the colonial past, active justification of colonialism's historical crimes, efforts to undermine recognised international humanitarian law and struggles against active decolonial movements. The Maga-Israel alliance should be understood as part of a broader effort to suppress the memory of colonialism's atrocities and to create a sanitised narrative of colonial history in order to resuscitate colonialism in the present. In the Maga version of modern global history, Israel has come to represent the symbolic last vestige of European colonialism still allowed to flourish, and Palestine stands in for the last unresolved case of anti-colonial resistance. Supporting Israel, then, is not just a normal matter of American foreign policy; it is a proxy battle in culture wars over history, identity and the legitimacy of settler colonialism. The Maga movement has mobilised around a common sense of nostalgia for a past in which white, western, Christian civilisation exercised global dominance. Commentators reflecting on Trump's first term often associated this notion with a desire to re-establish the belief systems of the United States in the 1950s, the dawn of the so-called 'American century'. In his second term, it seems more appropriate to interpret Maga nostalgia as invoking, not the era beginning in the 1950s, but rather the one that began a century earlier at the peak of Euro-American colonialism. Colonial land grab As a recent article in the Monthly Review pointed out, it was no accident that - after opining about the possibility of adding Canada, Greenland and the Panama Canal as new American territories - Trump hung a portrait of James K Polk in the Oval Office. Polk served as president from 1845-49 and oversaw the largest territorial expropriation of land in US history after the Mexican War. In the Maga worldview, the era of Anglo-American power ushered in by colonial land grabs at this time brought order, democracy and prosperity in its wake. The post-World War Two era marked a decided turn in the other direction, and the massive movement for decolonisation in the 1950s and 60s upended the worldview of Polk and others like him. The United Nations (UN) Charter was drawn up at this time and was based on the principle of sovereign equality among all nations. This implied that unequal relationships of domination and extraction between nations, such as the relationship between coloniser and colonised, should be undone. Israel has distilled western colonial war techniques, but fails to quell resistance Read More » Article 2 prohibited member states from using force to acquire territory and foresaw the resolution of disputes undertaken in a manner that ensures international peace as well as justice. By the 1970s, the number of UN member states had more than quadrupled. The British, French, Russian, German, Dutch and Portuguese empires were dismantled, and their territories returned to governments representing the indigenous inhabitants from the pre-war era. Because of the United States' unique role in creating and sustaining the post-World War Two order, Maga supporters imagine their country can sidestep critiques of the decolonisation movement. I have written elsewhere about how the circumstances of the battle between colonial powers on the one hand and the Nazi regime on the other have allowed for a kind of global amnesia to take place with regard to the legacy of racism in creating the world we inhabit today. The Maga narrative is just one particularly virulent example of this broader western cultural tendency. Middle America is obsessed with World War Two, as we can see in popular culture like the History Channel. A survey conducted in 2016 found that fully 70 percent of military history programming on the network dealt with the single conflict of World War Two. The Maga movement plays on this popular fixation on "the good war" to whitewash American history and deny any link between nationalistic pride in their own country and the kind of antisemitism associated with the Nazi movement it fought against. Israel's role The importance of Israel's role in this story is in inverse proportion to its small territorial size. The creation of a state for the Jewish people in the wake of the Holocaust has allowed Maga republicans - along with the broader western world - to imagine that history's most uniquely horrific crime has been answered for in the American-led postwar order. This narrative element produces a double effect for those who retell it. On one hand, the creation of a Jewish state in the wake of the Holocaust allows western powers to imagine themselves as just and righteous, even as many of those same powers had collaborated in or turned a blind eye to its unfolding. The foundation of the state of Israel is a form of symbolic restitution, allowing western culture to wash its hands of the stain of antisemitism and to imagine that they have made amends to the aggrieved Jewish people. On the other hand, excessive focus on the Holocaust as a singular crime in need of restitution deflects attention from the many other atrocities committed on a similar scale by western colonial empires. Palestine is not just a contested land; it is the last mirror in which the West might see the truth of its colonial past For example, scholars estimate that upwards of 10 million people were killed due to King Leopold's forced labour regime in the Congo Free State, while the Bengal famine caused by official policy led to the deaths of 3 million people in British India. In the US, scholars have called the loss of life associated with American colonisation an 'Indigenous Holocaust', estimating the number of Native American deaths from 1492 onwards at 4.5 million. Making amends for these crimes and others like them would require political and social reorganisation on a world scale. Instead of coming face-to-face with this global reckoning, western culture has chosen to hyperfixate on one specific case in a small bit of territory on the Levantine coast. Israel as we know it today took shape in the context of the Mandate for Palestine, founded in the wake of the First World War (1914-18), when Britain and France split up the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire among themselves. But while the rest of the Mandates were eventually returned to governments representing the indigenous inhabitants of the territory from the pre-war era, in Palestine, Jewish settlers from Europe - who had created a new political identity of their own based on historical-religious claims - were recognised as sovereign. Today, Palestine is the only colony founded in the late imperial period that has never undergone a decolonisation process. Algeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe and South Africa were all sites of European settlement and indigenous dispossession from 1850 to 1950, and all eventually experienced some version of decolonisation. This is why efforts to acknowledge Israel as a settler-colonial state have stirred such controversy; to do so would be to say that Israel is out of step with the moral arc of the modern world in which colonialism is understood as a crime rather than a civilising mission. For Maga ideologues and their global counterparts, it is precisely Israel's status as the last bastion of 19th-century-style colonialism today that makes flocking to its defence attractive. In their eyes, the revisionist Zionism of Netanyahu and his ilk is a shining example of what the West 'should have' done: established a firm grip, refused to apologise and dealt harshly with native resistance. The Maga movement celebrates Israel, not in spite of its colonial character, but because of it. In their eyes, Israel is the living rebuttal to decolonisation, multiculturalism and the whole post-1945 liberal international order they are in the process of dismantling. In this sense, the Maga-Israel alliance should be understood alongside efforts to suppress teaching critical race theory and suppress what Trump calls the 'woke agenda'. It is an effort to turn back the clock to an earlier era and put the genie of progressive decolonisation back in its bottle. Maga nostalgia Maga nostalgia for the 19th-century heyday of colonialism is not an isolated phenomenon. One need only look to Vladimir Putin's Russia, which has launched a war of territorial conquest in Ukraine in an effort to undo Soviet efforts acknowledging Ukrainian nationality a century ago. Similarly, Trump's ally Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil has praised the American colonial cavalry and denied the existence of an ongoing genocide against indigenous groups in the Amazon. When US Secretary of State Marco Rubio opined in a January 2025 interview that 'eventually [the world is] going to reach back to a point where you had a multipolar world, multi-great powers in different parts of the planet', he was talking about returning to an era of imperial competition not unlike the one that culminated in two world wars in the first half of the twentieth century. Israel and Trump: From euphoria to anxiety Read More » It is no accident that Rubio's comment echoes similar statements made by the anti-liberal Russian philosopher Alexander Dugin, whose book Multipolarity: The Era of Great Transition has influenced radical circles on the right and the left. The core of the Maga-Israel alliance is not about votes, theology or even security: it is a project of historical amnesia. It seeks to erase the moral and political lessons of decolonisation and to re-legitimise the colonial worldview. It allows the Holocaust to be remembered in isolation, while any acknowledgement of the millions killed in colonial atrocities around the world is suppressed. Palestine is not just a contested land; it is the last mirror in which the West might see the truth of its colonial past. And so, the mirror must be shattered. Palestinians and those who sympathise with them must be silenced, not because they are wrong, but because they remember. And in remembering, they threaten to unmake the myths upon which the American empire depends. The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.
Al Etihad
an hour ago
- Al Etihad
Zelensky to travel to Washington Monday after Trump's talks with him, NATO leaders
16 Aug 2025 12:23 WASHINGTON (AGENCIES)US President Donald Trump held a lengthy phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and spoke to NATO after the US leaders president's Friday summit in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the White House later said on Telegram he would travel to Washington on Monday: 'On Monday, I will meet with President Trump in Washington, DC, to discuss all of the details regarding ending the killing and the war. I am grateful for the invitation."Trump held the calls on his way back to Washington, landing in the early hours of Saturday Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was among those on the call, in which Trump briefed European leaders about the summit, von der Leyen's spokesperson said. A NATO official said NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte also took part, while the Elysee confirmed French President Emmanuel Macron's from Germany, Finland, Poland, Italy and Britain also joined the call, according to the European reporter Barak Ravid said, citing a source, that Trump spoke for more than an hour and a half with Zelensky and European highly anticipated summit between Trump and Putin in Alaska yielded no agreement to resolve or pause Russia's war in Ukraine, although both leaders described the talks as productive before heading a brief appearance before the media following the nearly three-hour meeting in Alaska, the two leaders said they had made progress on unspecified issues. But they offered no details and took no questions. Trump also did not take questions when he landed in the United States at Joint Base Andrews.
