The National Assembly largely rejected, Thursday, May 4, a proposed communist resolution condemning “Israel’s institutionalization of an apartheid regime”, despite calls from part of the left to support a text “on the side of international law”. At the time of the vote, 71 deputies voted in favor, 199 against.
In the preamble, MP Jean-Paul Lecoq, author of the text, insisted on his group’s “deep attachment” “to the existence of the State of Israel”, but defended the right to criticize an “illiberal drift and colonial state” without being accused of anti-Zionism or anti-Semitism. Submitted within the framework of the day reserved for the texts of the communist group, the resolution had been the subject of strong criticism in the presidential camp, from the right and the extreme right, but also from elected socialists, as well than the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France (Crif).
“Whether the reasons are political, security or religious, the settlement policy is contrary to international legality”, argued Jean-Paul Lecoq, according to whom the situation of the Palestinians “juridically falls under a situation of apartheid”. “It is an institutionalized regime, set in stone by law (…), aimed at the oppression of one group over another [and] institutionally held in place,” he listed, citing “ the hundreds of resolutions of the UN, (…) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe” and “the investigations and reports published by NGOs”.
His resolution, which would not have been binding, called on the executive to recognize “the State of Palestine”, table a resolution at the United Nations to impose “a strict arms embargo” on Israel, and repeal of “circulars prohibiting calls for boycotts of settlement products”. He received the support of “rebellious” deputies and ecologists, but not that of the socialist group.
“Anti-Semitism, we vomit it, we hate it”
“I understand your legitimate desire to leave the question of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict out of indifference”, replied Jérôme Guedj (Socialist Party), however rejecting the term “apartheid”, and accusing him of “racializing and essentialize” a “territory dispute”, turning it into a “conflict between Jews and Arabs”. The Socialists have announced that they will present their own resolution on the subject in the coming days.
The rest of the Assembly also spoke out against it, the president of the Renaissance group, Aurore Bergé, denouncing a “gesture of detestation of the State of Israel”, “offense” and “defamation” and castigated an “obsession” with Israel. “France is the friend of Israel”, then recalled Laurence Boone, Secretary of State for Europe, describing the word “apartheid” as “widely excessive and inappropriate”.
“Today, anti-Semitism is mainly on the left,” said Republican-related MP Meyer Habib, close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “These are deep insults” and “defamatory attacks that take us away from a path of peace,” Elsa Faucillon of the French Communist Party said in a tense end to the session. “Anti-Semitism, we vomit it, we hate it”, also declared the “rebellious” Aymeric Caron.
