“Mr. President, do not make France complicit in the crimes committed by the government of Israel”
2024-03-30 08:00:21
Since October 7, 2023, the semantic debate has raged in the political space. Firstly, it was necessary to qualify the actions of Hamas on Israeli territory. We, ecologists, did not hesitate: these were terrorist acts of rare barbarity. Just as we have continued to demand the release of hostages held by Hamas.
Since October, we have also called for people not to conflate Jews in general, and French people of Jewish faith in particular, with the actions of the Israeli government. Since Israel’s reprisals, we have not hesitated to qualify the facts: war crimes and crimes against humanity are underway in Gaza.
Today, the question posed is that of the qualification of genocide. This debate is particularly difficult knowing what the Jews of Europe experienced during the Shoah and to what extent it marked the history of humanity and in particular of the State of Israel, created in the aftermath of this terrible destruction. We refuse the overbidding of some just as we do not accept the blinders of others. In our opinion, what should guide our analysis is simple: political courage, lucidity and respect for international law.
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On January 14, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) noted a “real and imminent risk of genocide in Gaza”. By preparing to launch its offensive on Rafah, the last refuge for more than a million Palestinians displaced in an area of 60 square kilometers, the Israeli government of Benyamin Netanyahu always seems closer to what the judges of the Haye could one day call it genocide.
Humanitarian disaster
Recall that, according to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 1948, this crime is defined by acts “committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such”in particular by the “murder of group members” and the “intentional subjection of the group to conditions of existence intended to bring about its total or partial physical destruction”. According to international law, a genocide is therefore defined by the materiality of the crimes and the intention of those who commit them.
Read also | Israel-Hamas war: Benjamin Netanyahu responds to the accusation of genocide, defending a war “of unparalleled morality”
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The materiality of Israeli crimes is indisputable after five months of war. More than 30,000 Palestinians were killed, including 25,000 women and children, according to Hamas. More than 50% of Gaza’s homes have been destroyed or damaged, relates an analysis carried out by the BBC. More than 1.7 million Palestinians have been forcibly displaced, according to the UN. The Israeli army attacked – deliberately – journalists, medical personnel, schools, places of worship, hospitals, energy infrastructure.
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