French diplomacy published a press release on November 27 with criminal effects in which she brazenly claims that “immunities apply to Prime Minister Netanyahu and other relevant ministers” because Israel is not a signatory to the Treaty of Rome. She thus announces that she will not implement the ICC arrest warrants against B. Netanyahu and Y. Gallant.
According to the left-wing Israeli newspaper Haaretz, this is the result of a bargain between the United States, France and Israelto obtain from the Israeli government the formal signing of a ceasefire with Lebanon. In this agreement, the United States would also commit to delivering weapons to Israel that it had previously denied. 22.76 billion euros in arms delivered by the United States over the past year: this was clearly not enough. In other words, in exchange for Israel signing a ceasefire in Lebanon, the United States and France offered impunity and weapons to tell Netanyahu “OK finish the job in Gaza. »
This announcement is legally, politically and morally unacceptable:
- It once again puts France in complete breach with international law. The jurisprudence of the ICC is constant: there is no type of immunity for state leaders who are not signatories to the Treaty of Rome.
- France guarantees immunity to Israeli war criminals, despite the ICC arrest warrant, further strengthening their impunity in the midst of the genocide, encouraging them to continue it.
- After more than a year of daily massacres, the genocidal government is France’s main partner for “peace and security” and nothing is planned to establish the slightest partnership with the Gaza government. THE communiqué states in fact that “France intends to continue to work in close collaboration with Prime Minister Netanyahu and other Israeli authorities to achieve peace and security for all in the Middle East.”
- She shamelessly uses the vocabulary of collaboration with the Israeli authorities, even though it has so many connotations.
- By reinforcing the idea that Israel and its leaders are untouchable, immune whatever they do and whatever international law says, France feeds the anti-Semitic prejudices which make Israel an exception as the so-called “State of the Jews.”
- France had no real role in the negotiations, Macron acceded to the request for immunity made by Israeli leaders only to have his name at the bottom of the agreement.
This decision by the French authorities is unfortunately not a surprise. Only massive popular mobilization throughout the world can force the partner states of the ongoing genocide to take the only decision consistent with law and justice: to strongly sanction Israel until it respects international law, starting with an immediate ceasefire. This is the whole meaning of the UJFP’s commitment to the mobilizations and the BDS campaign.
The National Coordination of the UJFP, November 28, 2024
