The French Jewish Union for Peace (UFJP) and Urgence Palestine filed a complaint Tuesday in Paris against French leaders of pro-Israel associations for “complicity in genocide against the Palestinian population in Gaza”they indicated on Wednesday in a press release to AFP. In this complaint, also revealed by Le Monde, the two associations “and a Franco-Palestinian victim” denounce “the organization, participation and call to participate in concrete actions to block humanitarian aid to the occupied territory of Gaza, in particular by physically preventing the passage of trucks at border posts controlled by the Israeli army” .
Israel is forever and Tzav-9
“This deliberate submission of the Gazan population to conditions of existence likely to bring about its destruction, and more particularly the use of famine, characterizes, both according to international law and according to French law, the crime of genocide,” supports the press release of the plaintiffs, represented by Damia Taharraoui and Marion Lafouge.
The complaint with constitution of civil party (PCPC) for complicity in genocide and incitement to the commission of a genocide targets figures from the associations Israel is forever and Tzav-9 presented as having French nationality, which would potentially allow French justice to be competent. The PCPC aims to obtain the appointment of an investigating judge.
In mid-November, a special UN committee affirmed that the war methods used by Israel in the Gaza Strip, in response to the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, “correspond to the characteristics of a genocide”.
On January 26, the International Court of Justice asked Israel to do its utmost to prevent any act of genocide during its military operations. Israel strongly contests these accusations, asserts its “right to defend its population” and accuses Hamas of using civilians as “human shields”.
“No investigation has been opened at this stage”
In September, the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office (Pnat) closed a complaint from associations denouncing torture attributed to a Franco-Israeli on men presented as Palestinian prisoners. The Pnat, on the other hand, has long opened an investigation into assassinations in connection with a terrorist enterprise relating to the October 7 attack.
“No investigation has been opened at this stage” concerning possible victims of Israeli strikes in Gaza or Lebanon, Pnat indicated to AFP at the beginning of October.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants on November 21 against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and the head of Hamas's armed wing Mohammed Deif for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Asked at the beginning of the week, the Pnat indicated that it had not “no new information to communicate” as to the consequences for French procedures of the ICC decision.
