The announced arrival in France of Bezalel Smotrich, Israeli Minister of Finance, who also has supervision of the occupied West Bank, on Wednesday November 13, is controversial. This openly supremacist politician is expected in Paris to participate in a gala evening organized by Israel is Forever, a French Jewish association close to the far right. This event, presented by its organizers as “the mobilization of French-speaking Zionist forces in the service of the power and history of Israel”was the subject of a request for a ban by the Coordination of Calls for a Just Peace in the Middle East EuroPalestine.
The Paris police chief, Laurent Nuñez, however announced that he would not oppose it. “I will not ban this demonstration. I have no reason to do ithe declared on BFM-TV, November 10. We will obviously protect this gala. » The administrative court ruled on November 9 that there was no reason to ban it. According to the court, “the existence of a distinct and imminent threat” not being established, the conditions necessary for ordering a prohibition are not met. On Tuesday, Bezalel Smotrich's spokesperson, Ephraïm David, said he would not come to France. “No trip to Paris was planned”he told Agence France-Presse
Some political leaders also mobilized to call for the cancellation of this event. On October 16, LFI deputy Thomas Portes asked the prefect to ban this gala “while the Israeli government carries out genocide in Gaza”he wrote on his X account. He also recalled the comments of Bezalel Smotrich, held in August during a conference at Yad Binyamin, according to whom it would be “justified and moral” to let the inhabitants of Gaza die of hunger to promote the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
“Irresponsible and unacceptable comments”
This visit was also mentioned by Mathilde Panot, the president of the La France insoumise group, during a question session at the National Assembly on November 5. The Prime Minister, Michel Barnier, replied that “the French authorities [n’étaient] in no way associated with this trip”more than “Mr. Smotrich can, in compliance with international law, travel to Paris in a private setting”. He also rejected any “form of government contact” with the Israeli minister, recalling the condemnations of Paris against “irresponsible and unacceptable comments” that Bezalel Smotrich held during a previous gala, organized in March 2023 by Israel is Forever. “The Palestinian people are an invention less than a hundred years old. Do they have a history, a culture? No, they don't have any.”, he said on this occasion.
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