Latest news with #French-Israeli
LeMonde
3 days ago
- Politics
- LeMonde
Is there a genocide in Gaza? Why legal experts are split
Historians will provide their interpretation at some point in the future. But what about legal experts? When it comes to the question of whether a genocide is underway or has been committed by Israel against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, nearly all of them have an opinion. They have clashed in opinion pieces published in newspapers and scholarly journal articles. The debate had already been simmering for several months, but with a single sentence, President Emmanuel Macron brought it out into the open in the French public debate. On the evening of May 13, during an interview on broadcaster TF1, journalist Gilles Bouleau abruptly asked the head of state: "Does what is currently happening in Gaza constitute genocide?" Clearly prepared and looking solemn, the president answered without hesitation: "It is not for a political leader to use those terms; that is up to historians, in due time." The president neither endorsed nor condemned the use of the word "genocide." However, by deferring responsibility to historians and the passage of time, he appeared to overlook the fact that several legal proceedings are already underway, both before French courts and before relevant international bodies – the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC), both based in The Hague, Netherlands. Genocide brought up soon after October 7, 2023 The question of genocide and Gaza is not just a matter for historians to address through archival research. Above all, it is the domain of law experts – prosecutors, investigating judges, and lawyers – who are working directly on complaints, lawsuits, and appeals that have already been filed. For instance, the French National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office, which is responsible for investigating cases of torture, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, requested in May that a probe be opened following a complaint for "complicity in genocide" and "direct incitement to genocide." This complaint had been filed against French-Israeli activists who obstructed the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza in 2023, 2024, and 2025. Only the investigation will determine whether there was complicity, and therefore a genocide, but this process could take several years.
Gulf Today
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Gulf Today
Israel maintains its policy of nuclear ambiguity
It is ironic that two nuclear weapons powers, the US and Israel, attacked non-nuclear Iran's research sites and put them out of action for months or years. While Donald Trump has repeatedly said Iran cannot be permitted to obtain a nuclear weapon, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin said its June 12-day war on Iran was meant to stop it from making nuclear weapons. Iran has denied it seeks to produce nuclear arms and argues its nuclear programme is solely for peaceful civilian purposes. Iran has no bombs and is a member of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The US, which has 5,500 nuclear warheads, is among the states recognised as possessing nuclear bombs along with France, Britain, Russia, and China. Pakistan, India, and North Korea also have bombs while non-NPT member Israel does not admit to having at least 90 nuclear devices plus between 750 and 1,110 kilograms of plutonium, which would be enough to build 187 to 277 nuclear weapons. Nevertheless, Israel relies on a policy of ambiguity to avoid criticism or sanctions. Iran has submitted to NPT controls and inspections and had abided by the 2015 agreement with the US, France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China until 2018 when Trump took the US out of the deal and imposed punitive sanctions, crippling Iran's economy. In 2019, Iran began to breach the terms of the deal by enriching uranium to 60 per cent (a provocative gesture) instead of sticking to the 3.67 per cent permitted, amassing a large stockpile, and curbing UN nuclear watchdog (IAEA) inspections. Israeli ambiguity over its nuclear bomb programme and arsenal has been exposed as pointless by a number of international and Israeli writers and experts. France played a key role in the creation in the late 1950's of Israel's nuclear programme by helping to build Israel's main reactor at Dimona in the Negev desert where plutonium was first produced, the first step in weaponization. French-Israeli cooperation initially remained a secret from the US, Israel's protector, which repeatedly queried Israel on its activities at Dimona. Among the whistle-blowers were defected Dimona employee Mordechai Vanunu, Israeli professor Israel Shahak, and Israeli-US historian Avner Cohen. Vanunu published an article in London's Sunday Times in 1986, Shahak released his book 'Open Secrets' in 1997, and Cohen brought out 'Israel and the Bomb' in 1998. It is significant that Shahak and Cohen published their books more than a decade after Vanunu challenged Israel's policy of ambiguity. Vanunu fled Israel but was kidnapped from Rome by Israeli agents, tried, spent 18 years in prison, 11 in solitary confinement, and when released, was banned from travelling outside Israel. I met Vanunu at a dinner party in occupied East Jerusalem soon after he was released from prison in 2004. Branded as a 'traitor' by the Israeli government, Vanunu became a sad, lonely figure hanging around the American Colony hotel's courtyard cafe. Unlike Vanunu, neither Cohen nor Shahak, who was a friend of mine, faced harsh treatment by the Israeli government. 'In 1969, the US accepted the Israeli exceptionalist nuclear status, as long as Israel remained committed to keeping its presence invisible and opaque. This is known as the 1969 Nixon-Meir nuclear deal,' Cohen told MEE. The leaders involved were Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir and US President Richard Nixon. Since then, Israel has stuck to ambiguity while the US has not called this a fraud. It is suspected that Israel conducted a secret bomb test in the South Atlantic/Indian Ocean in 1979 with the cooperation of the apartheid South African government which developed its nuclear programme to reach weaponisation stage but abandoned it in 1989. While maintaining its policy of nuclear ambiguity, Israel remains the sole regional state to possess nuclear weapons. Israel has vowed not to use them unless it faced an existential threat. However, it was reported during the 1973 October/Ramadan war when Egypt and Syria mounted a surprise attack on Israel, it stood up but did not use nuclear bombs. While Egypt recaptured territory occupied by Israel in Sinai and Syria in the Golan, the US provided Israel with the arms and munitions needed to roll back these advances. This was a destructive intervention. If, instead, the US had imposed a ceasefire in place, both Egypt and Syria might have reached peace treaties with Israel at that time. Victor Galinsky and Leonard Weiss wrote in March 2025 in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists about an 'extraordinary three-part series on Israeli television, 'The Atom and Me,' [which] lays out how the country got its nuclear weapons.' Effectively torpedoing Israel's policy of ambiguity, the series describes how the US aided Israel in this effort. 'The United States' indulgence of Israeli nuclear weapons has not escaped international attention, and the evident hypocrisy has undermined US non-proliferation policy. The US government's public position continues to be that it does not know anything about Israeli nuclear weapons, and this will apparently continue until Israel releases the United States' gag. This policy is allegedly enforced by a secret federal bulletin that threatens disciplinary actions for any US official who publicly acknowledges Israel's nuclear weapons.' The writers exposed the result of this policy: 'The existence of these weapons may have started as a deterrent against another Holocaust but has now morphed into an instrument of an aggressive and expansionist Israel.' This has been notably true during the premiership of Netanyahu — who Galinsky and Weiss wrote — bragged about nuclear weapons in a 2016 speech on the delivery of Israel's Rahav submarine which was built by Germany. 'The Times of Israel, using the standard 'according to foreign reports,' described the submarine as 'capable of delivering a nuclear payload.' In his speech, Netanyahu said, 'Above all else, our submarine fleet acts as a deterrent to our enemies... They need to know that Israel can attack, with great might, anyone who tries to harm it.' The writers asked, 'How else, other than with nuclear weapons, can a submarine be a deterrent?'
Days of Palestine
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Days of Palestine
Complaint Filed in Paris Against Two French-Israeli Snipers Accused of War Crimes in Gaza
DaysofPal – The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), in collaboration with five partner organizations, has filed a war crimes complaint in Paris targeting two French-Israeli soldiers. The legal action accuses the men, identified as Sasha A. and Gabriel B., of committing grave violations of international law during Israel's military campaign in Gaza. The complaint, submitted to the Paris Judicial Court, alleges the two snipers—both members of the Israeli forces' notorious 'Ghost Unit'—deliberately targeted and killed civilians, including children. They are further accused of genocide, torture, and war crimes. Filed jointly by FIDH, the French Human Rights League (LDH), Al-Haq, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), and the French-Palestinian Solidarity Association, the legal action marks a rare effort to hold dual-national combatants accountable in their country of citizenship. Since October 7, 2023, Israel's military campaign in the Gaza Strip—supported by the United States—has resulted in more than 190,000 Palestinians killed or injured, according to Palestinian sources. The majority of the victims are women and children, with over 11,000 people still missing and hundreds of thousands displaced. At the same time, violence has surged across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Israeli forces and settlers have intensified assaults on Palestinian communities, resulting in at least 988 deaths and nearly 7,000 injuries to date. The legal complaint represents a significant milestone in the broader push to pursue accountability for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during Israel's ongoing assault on the occupied Palestinian territories. It also underscores growing momentum in Europe to investigate dual nationals who may have participated in overseas military operations that violate international humanitarian law. Should the Paris court accept the case, it could open the door for broader judicial scrutiny into the actions of foreign fighters with links to European countries—and challenge the legal impunity often enjoyed by individuals involved in cross-border military campaigns. Shortlink for this post:
LeMonde
01-07-2025
- Politics
- LeMonde
Complaint filed against two French-Israeli soldiers accused of war crimes in Gaza
The legal fate of French-Israeli soldiers could become a major issue in the coming months and years. Several hundred dual nationals have participated in military operations conducted by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip since October 8, 2023, the day after the massacre of soldiers and civilians carried out by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and its allies. Their dual nationality makes them liable to prosecution in France, initiated by several human rights groups and associations supporting the Palestinian people. A complaint seeking the opening of a judicial investigation against two French-Israeli soldiers for "war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide" was filed on Tuesday, July 1, according to information obtained by Le Monde. The two soldiers, named Sasha A. and Gabriel B. H., are accused of belonging to an elite unit, the 9 th Platoon of the Auxiliary Company of the 202 nd Battalion of the Israeli army's Paratrooper Brigade, also known as the Ghost Unit. They are suspected of killing several dozen unarmed Palestinian civilians not in uniforms in "deconflicted" zones, meaning outside combat areas, in 2023 and 2024. The issue remains highly relevant as Palestinians continue to be killed daily while queuing at humanitarian aid distribution centers. The complaint was filed by the International Federation for Human Rights, the French Human Rights League and the France Palestine Solidarity Association, as well as three Palestinian organizations: Al-Haq, Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights. The main information in the complaint comes from a 38-minute report by independent Palestinian journalist Younis Tirawi, broadcast on X in October 2024. It is based on footage filmed by both Palestinian civilians and Israeli soldiers, several minutes of which were posted on YouTube with commentary by a member of the unit, the American-Israeli Daniel Raab. The Ghost Unit, reportedly composed of about 20 men, is made up of pairs of snipers, the majority of whom are dual nationals. Tirawi compiled an organizational chart of the unit, which includes Sasha A. and Gabriel B. H.
France 24
03-06-2025
- Business
- France 24
France bears the brunt of Israel's isolation ire
The Franco-Israeli relationship was once a subject of obsessive scrutiny by the CIA as US intelligence scrambled to uncover proof that Tel Aviv was deceiving Washington as it built a nuclear bomb in secrecy – with more than a little help from the French. CIA documents from the early 1960s that have since been declassified record speculation about the political backing in Paris for the suspicious nuclear cooperation between the French and Israeli militaries. In a 1961 report, the CIA noted that the French ambassador to Israel 'confirmed' that his military attaché in Israel 'was much more intimately connected to the Israeli Army than is usual for an attaché'. The document concluded that, 'It is unlikely that such cooperation would be possible without political support.' France, at that time, was trying to recover diplomatically from the disastrous 1956 Suez crisis, which saw the British-French-Israeli invasion of Egypt until heavy pressure from Washington and Moscow prompted an embarrassing withdrawal. With the Algerian independence war raging, the French government, under Charles de Gaulle, did not want to bear the onus of Arab hostility for arming Israel – publicly. But the high-level 'cooling off' in French-Israeli relations 'does not seem to have affected the close military ties cemented by cooperation in the Suez incident', the CIA concluded. That was more than 60 years and many Mideast wars ago. US suspicions about French-Israeli relations have now given way to outrage as President Emmanuel Macron pushes several Western countries to jointly recognise the state of Palestine. France is also co-hosting, along with Saudi Arabia, a June 17-20 UN summit to accelerate a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis. The French diplomatic drive appears to have incensed the top US diplomat in Israel. In an interview with Fox News over the weekend, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee lashed out at Macron's advocacy for a Palestinian state. "If France is really so determined to see a Palestinian state, I've got a suggestion for them – carve out a piece of the French Riviera and create a Palestinian state,' he said. Meanwhile Israel, facing increasing international isolation over the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, has kept up a high-octane tirade against France over the past few weeks. On Friday, shortly after Macron asserted that a recognition of a Palestinian state was " not only a moral duty, but a political necessity", Israel issued a blistering response. "President Macron's Crusade Against the Jewish State Continues," said an Israeli foreign ministry statement posted on X. Countering yet another UN warning of a looming, Israeli-imposed enforced famine in Gaza, Israel maintained that the 'facts do not interest Macron. There is no humanitarian blockade. That is a blatant lie." French-Israeli relations have come a long way since the inception period of close political and military ties following the 1948 creation of Israel. Over the past seven decades, bilateral relations have careened from cooperation over shared strategic interests in the Arab world to periods of arms embargoes and warnings, followed by phases of rapprochement until they hit rocky ground again. Along the way, French noises about recognising a Palestinian state have been invariably met with Israeli allegations of anti-Semitism and barbed reminders of the Vichy-era collaboration with the Nazis. Tempers flare in church The latest anti-French screed by Israel and its supporters have been met, for the most part, with a Gallic shrug in French Mideast circles. 'The reactions are not really surprising. They are pretty much in line with the hawkish rhetoric that has been emanating from the Israeli government. But they have taken it up a notch because they are sort of panicking, because they realise that Western public opinion is shifting very rapidly,' said Karim Emile Bitar, a lecturer in Middle East studies at SciencesPo, Paris. 'This is not something new. French relations with Israel have always been difficult. Almost every French president since Charles de Gaulle has been called anti-Semitic by the Israeli government. Almost everyone, except perhaps Sarkozy,' added Bitar, referring to former French president Nicolas Sarkozy. 'But today, the Israelis are becoming almost insulting. Sometimes, it appears that there is a willingness to humiliate France.' The slights have included diplomatic dust-ups, such as a brief detention of French embassy staff in November during a visit by French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot to a holy site in Jerusalem historically administered by France. When Israeli security forces entered the compound of the Church of the Pater Noster on the Mount of Olives and detained two French consulate gendarmes, Barrot had to cancel his church visit and France issued a summons to the Israeli ambassador in Paris. It was not the first such incident at French-administered religious sites in a part of Jerusalem annexed by Israel in the 1967 war. In January 2020, Macron was forced to put his foot down during a visit to the Church of Sainte-Anne in the walled Old City, when Israeli security forces pushed their way into the site. 'Everybody knows the rules,' Macron berated the security officials. 'I don't like what you did, in front of me. Go outside.' In France, presidential explosions – in heavily French-accented English – in Jerusalem churches are viewed as emblematic of the long-standing yet testy ties between the two countries. They even inspire memes and musicians. In 1996, for instance, an exasperated Jacques Chirac told Israeli soldiers at Sainte-Anne: 'What do you want? You want me to go back to my plane and come back to France?' Chirac's lines are often repeated in France, including in song lyrics. Moving G7 nations to recognise Palestinian statehood But French patience with heavy-handed Israeli security personnel is wearing thin, particularly when it comes to defenceless Palestinians. As Gazans face starvation, death and dislocation, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz's pledge that 'no humanitarian aid will enter Gaza' or National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir 's assertion that Gazans deserve 'not even an ounce of food or aid' have been met with horror in France. Israel's refusal to address core issues of the Palestinian conflict and its verbal lashings of its allies for bringing it up are also exasperating diplomats in Paris. Michel Duclos, a former French ambassador to Syria and a special adviser to the Paris-based Institut Montaigne, believes there are two elements behind the recent Israeli backlash. 'First, it has been years and years now since the Israelis have taken a very hard stance against France. Second, they are very upset about the issue of the recognition of the state of Palestine. They consider, rightly so, that Macron is leading the move from the very last G7 countries that have not recognised the state of Palestine.' While much of the Arab world, Africa, Asia and several eastern European countries recognised the state of Palestine in the 1980s, Western nations have held back, maintaining that Palestinians can only gain statehood as part of a negotiated peace with Israel. But Israel's latest military onslaught in Gaza, which has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, has boosted European support for Palestinian statehood. Out of 193 UN member states, 147 recognise the state of Palestine, including Spain, Ireland, Norway and Slovenia, the latest European additions to join the ranks. The G7 countries – comprising Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US – have held out, with the US using its veto at the UN Security Council last year to prevent a Palestinian bid to become a full UN member state. In the lead-up to the June 17-20 UN summit, French foreign ministry statements have carefully noted that the 'legitimate aspiration' for a Palestinian state must be accompanied by a comprehensive strategy that includes disarming Hamas, the release of hostages held by the militant group after the October 7, 2023 terrorist attack, a reform of the Palestinian Authority and a 'day after' reconstruction plan for Gaza. The Israeli response has focused on characterising the French initiative as a 'reward to Hamas ', Duclos notes. 'Maybe they believe that. I don't know, I can't say. But if that's the case, I think it's a mistake because you can argue that it's exactly the opposite. The way to deprive Hamas of legitimacy is to say that there should be a Palestinian state, of course – not in the hands of Hamas or in the hands of the extremists, but in the hands of a reformed Palestinian Authority.' Back to 'Gaullo-Mitterrandism'? Since the October 7 Hamas attack, Macron has shifted his position with the deteriorating humanitarian situation on the ground in Gaza. It's a move dictated by ethical, international as well as domestic concerns in France, home to Europe's largest Muslim and Jewish communities, where the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a lightning rod issue. 'Macron has been trying to use his traditional en même temps approach to foreign policy,' said Bitar, referring to the French term for 'at the same time' – a phrase deployed for Macron's frequent, seemingly contradictory positions. 'Initially, he was very supportive of Israel after the October 7th massacres. But progressively, he started to change his rhetoric, and he became increasingly critical of Israel.' While critics lampoon the centrist president's en même temps proclivity, Macron's shifts on the Mideast have been consistent with changing French positions on a longstanding crisis. De Gaulle, France's first post-war president, did the first presidential flip when he finally put the brakes on military ties with Israel and imposed an arms embargo after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. He then launched what is called the politique arabe de la France, France's Arab policy, which brought Paris closer to the demands of the Palestinians and of other Arab countries. The position continued under the presidency of Socialist leader François Mitterrand, sparking the concept of ' Gaullo-Mitterrandism ' in French foreign policy circles. Gaullo-Mitterrandism placed France within the Western alliance as a sort of dissenting member – never fully aligned, unlike Britain – with US foreign policy. Mitterrand's successor, Jacques Chirac, put Gaullo-Mitterrandism on centre stage in 2003, when France opposed the US invasion of Iraq, which was vociferously supported by Israel. When Chirac's successor Nicolas Sarkozy came to power in 2007, 'things started to change', explained Bitar. 'In France, he was the first openly pro-Israel French president. And after Sarkozy, under François Hollande, France started to be perceived as just another Western country: it was no longer sending a discordant, dissident voice within the collective West,' he noted. 'France ... lost its soft power in the Arab world because of this.' After nearly two decades of French alliance with the US on Mideast policy, 'Macron is trying to bring some balance, maintain solid relations with Israel, but criticising it whenever necessary. And in the past few months, he has been raising his tone,' Bitar said. As US President Donald Trump 's hostility toward Europe and its institutions draws other Western capitals closer together, Macron has been spearheading talks with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Canada's Mark Carney, Australia's Anthony Albanese and other leaders ahead of the upcoming UN two-state solution summit. Experts agree that a Western recognition of a Palestinian state, if it were to happen, is unlikely to change the situation on the ground in Gaza and the West Bank while Israel continues to enjoy Washington's protection. They can't seem to agree, however, on what to make of a slate of recent Trump administration moves in the region that are firmly opposed by Israel. These include reopening nuclear talks with Iran, lifting sanctions on Syria and meeting interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, as well as announcing a truce with Yemen's Houthis and directly dealing with Hamas for the release of a US hostage in Gaza. While the latest Trump twists in the region are being closely followed in foreign policy circles, Duclos believes they are unlikely to impact geostrategic calculations in European capitals. 'You can't base your policy on what Trump thinks today when you don't know what he's going to think tomorrow,' he said. These geostrategic shifts may account for the tone of Israel's vitriolic broadsides against Paris in recent months. 'France is perceived as a European heavyweight because it's a former colonial power in the Middle East,' said Bitar. 'France's diplomacy can have an important symbolic weight.'
