During questions to the government in the National Assembly, Wednesday January 17, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Stéphane Séjourné, responded to a question from Danièle Obono(La France insoumise) asking him why France had refused to support the accusations of genocide against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, brought by South Africa against Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
“To accuse the Jewish state of genocide is to cross a moral threshold. We cannot exploit the notion of genocide for political purposes, he replied. We firmly say to the Israelis: “Righteousness is required for all, the systematic strikes in Gaza must stop,” but the words have meaning. »
Sunday, on France 3, the national secretary of the Ecologists, Marine Tondelier, affirmed to support South Africa’s approach: “I would have liked it to be France which carried this initiative, for justice, truth and peace,” she said.
Berlin also rejects the accusation of “genocide”
On Friday, the German government also rejected the accusation of “genocide” brought against Israel, seeing in it the risk of “political exploitation” of the law and considering that it was “devoid of any basis”. Namibia, a southern African country and former German colony where the first genocide of the 20th century took place, deplored Berlin’s positioning.
A hearing has been taking place since January 11 before the ICJ, the highest court of the United Nations, headquartered in The Hague, which Pretoria seized last month, arguing that Israel was violating the United Nations convention on genocide, signed in 1948 following the Holocaust. South Africa wants judges to order Israel to “immediately” stop the military campaign launched in the Gaza Strip after the unprecedented Hamas attack on Israeli soil on October 7, which left around 1,140 dead , according to a count by Agence France-Presse based on the Israeli assessment.
In retaliation, Israel vowed to “annihilate” Hamas, in power in the Gaza Strip, and launched an offensive in this Palestinian territory which left at least 24,448 people dead, mostly women, adolescents and children. according to the latest report from the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip.