“To accuse the Jewish state of genocide is to cross a moral threshold,” France’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.

“To accuse the Jewish state of genocide is to cross a moral threshold,” France’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.

France on Wednesday became the latest Western country to reject accusations that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinian civilians in Gaza, a charge that was recently brought before a United Nations court in The Hague.

Stéphane Séjourné, France’s newly appointed foreign minister, told lawmakers in France’s lower house of Parliament that “the rule of law applies to all, and systematic strikes in Gaza must cease.”

But, Mr. Séjourné added, “words have meaning.”

“To accuse the Jewish state of genocide is to cross a moral threshold,” he said. “The notion of genocide cannot be exploited for political ends. This has always been our position.”

Israel is facing the charge of genocide at the International Court of Justice, where South Africa has brought a case arguing that Israel “means to create conditions of death” in Gaza and demanding that the court order an emergency suspension of the military campaign there. The Israeli authorities deny the accusation.

  • PugJesus
    61•10 months ago

    “To accuse the Jewish state of genocide is to cross a moral threshold,”

    what

    • Sumpfkraut
      24•10 months ago

      He wants to apply the law to everyone. Except to Israel, because accusing the jewish state of crimes they actually commit is somehow immoral.

      • @grte@lemmy.caEnglish
        22•10 months ago

        Israelis. Israel doesn’t speak for or act on behalf of all Jews.

        • @fastandcurious@lemmy.worldEnglish
          13•10 months ago

          They do present themselves as jews, Israel is probably a huge reason for the (actual) rising antisemitism in the world, but ofc no one talks about that

          • @grte@lemmy.caEnglish
            12•10 months ago

            They can present themselves however they like, representing all Judaism is out of their jurisdiction. But I agree, an apartheid state claiming to represent an entire ethno-religious group could potentially inspire hate against that group in people who don’t fully consider the situation.

        • @streetfestival@lemmy.caEnglish
          13•10 months ago

          Yup. Also, France’s Foreign Minister referring to Israel as the Jewish State sounds to me like another attempt to conflate valid criticism of Israel’s unconscionable actions against Palestinians in the last 3 months and agenda (i.e., genocide) with “antisemitism” as a way of invalidating that criticism and redirecting attention to another topic

        • Sumpfkraut
          9•10 months ago

          I’m using that term due to Séjourné using that reasoning, I changed it to reflect his wording more precisely.

          I do not agree with him, that is why I inserted the “somehow”.

    • FaceDeer
      14•10 months ago

      They got a “good for one free genocide” certificate as part of reparations for the Holocaust, didn’t you know?

  • @Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.caEnglish
    15•10 months ago

    “The notion of genocide cannot be exploited for political ends."

    But that’s exactly what you are doing when you refuse to recognize it so you don’t offend your ally…

  • AutoTL;DRBEnglish
    4•10 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    France on Wednesday became the latest Western country to reject accusations that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinian civilians in Gaza, a charge that was recently brought before a United Nations court in The Hague.

    South Africa has won praise at home and from other countries for challenging what they see as a Western-led global order that is biased toward Israel.

    Israel was founded in the aftermath of the Nazi-led genocide of European Jewry, and Germany has rooted much of its post-Holocaust identity in the idea of supporting the Jewish state.

    France, home to some of Europe’s largest Jewish and Muslim communities, has seen fierce debates over the conflict in Gaza, including within its top diplomatic ranks.

    In November, a dozen French ambassadors in Middle East and North Africa countries expressed unease over Macron’s perceived pro-Israeli stance.

    Mr. Séjourné shot back that “we don’t need any lessons from your party,” as France Unbowed has faced intense criticism for refusing to call Hamas a terrorist group.

    The original article contains 522 words, the summary contains 165 words. Saved 68%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!