The text of discord. About forty left-wing deputies, mostly Communists, signed a motion for a resolution on Friday July 22 condemning the “institutionalized apartheid regime” by Israel against the Palestinians. These elected officials have attracted the condemnations of the Crif who speaks “anti-Semitism” under cover “anti-Zionism”but also other left-wing political figures, such as Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, and Jérôme Guedj, PS deputy for Essonne.
The text accuses Israel of having “established an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by a single racial group”. “Since its creation in 1948, Israel has pursued a policy aimed at establishing and maintaining a Jewish demographic hegemony”, is it still written. The text supports a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on “the coexistence of two States on the basis of the 1967 borders”, i.e. before the Six-Day War and the capture of the West Bank and East Jerusalem in particular.
To help achieve this, the signatories invite the French government to “recognize the State of Palestine” but also to call at the UN for an embargo on the supply of arms to Israel and to impose “targeted penalties” against Israeli officials “most implicated in the crime of apartheid”. Finally, they ask for the lifting of the obstacles instituted in France to calls for a boycott of Israeli products.
The text tabled by communist Jean-Paul Lecoq is signed by around twenty elected members of his group, including former presidential candidate Fabien Roussel, as well as by LFI elected officials such as Adrien Quatennens, socialist Christine Pirès-Beaune, or ecologists Aurélien Taché and Sabrina Sebaihi. To be debated in the hemicycle, it would have to be included on the agenda by the communist group on the occasion of a day reserved for its texts.
The Crif (Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France) reacted in particular by denouncing an attempt “violent and deceitful” of “delegitimize” the State of Israel. “This stigmatization is the reflection of an anti-Semitism that wears the mask of anti-Zionism”estimates the Crif, for whom this contributes to “stir up hatred” in France “in disregard of the safety of French Jews”. “We will not allow this obsessive anti-Semitism of a certain ‘left’ to be expressed, which dishonors the Republic and seeks to inflame public opinion”also
⚫️ In a scandalous and misleading text, a group of deputies dare to call a people a “racial group”. We will not allow this obsessive anti-Semitism of a certain “left” to express itself, which dishonors the Republic and seeks to inflame public opinion. pic.twitter.com/i1yp4s2SAp
— Licra (@_LICRA_) July 22, 2022 ” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>tweeted the International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism (Licra).
The mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo also denounced this text which “will not bring peace and will bring conflict to France”. “The boycott will not solve anything”she assured on Twitter.
The #ResolutionIsrael will not bring peace and will bring conflict to France. On the contrary, we must promote exchanges as we do with Israeli and Palestinian cities. The boycott will solve nothing.
— Anne Hidalgo (@Anne_Hidalgo) July 23, 2022
The socialist deputy Jérôme Guedj also spoke out against this initiative, stressing that it did not come under the left alliance Nupes. “The resolution maintains that Israel is an apartheid regime, calls for the legalization of the boycott of Israeli products and pleads for the official recognition of Palestine. If I can defend this last point, the first 2 are unacceptable. I condemn them”he wrote on Twitter.
1) I learned about this draft resolution yesterday. These 24 pages transpire the detestation of Israel. If it is always legitimate to challenge the policy of a Government, I do not understand how such a banishment of a State advances peace by a millimeter pic.twitter.com/Gp13bam0Jw
— Jerome Guedj (@JeromeGuedj) July 22, 2022