Order and international law must not be destroyed by those who deviate from the Jewish religion.
CFCM members are deeply distressed by the pain, fear, human toll and immeasurable hardships suffered by Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
The images reaching us from Rafah are unbearable, especially those of young children emerging from the rubble broken, disfigured and lifeless.
Anyone who loves humanity, peace and justice cannot remain indifferent to this premeditated massacre, announced and which is now taking place before our eyes.
For months, the International Order and International Law have been shamefully flouted in Gaza and the West Bank. Now, with what is happening in Rafah, many citizens of the world are wondering about the future of this Order and this Law. The powers that are supposed to enforce them continue to aid, finance and arm Israel's extremist leaders. The latter are in fact in total impunity.
The UN, the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice and humanitarian organizations are all attacked and accused of anti-Semitism by these extremist leaders who are thus seriously undermining the real fight against anti-Semitism, and the fight against state crimes around the world.
Unfortunately this betrayal of international law is also accompanied by a betrayal of the Jewish religion, invoked by certain Israeli officials to justify their murderous enterprise. Since Benjamin Netanyahu’s declaration in October 2023: “ We are the people of light, they are the people of darkness, and light must triumph over darkness. (…)we will fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah”, Israeli leaders have continually referred to religious scriptures to accompany and justify the horror of their actions.
The CFCM calls on the active forces of our country to denounce this double betrayal more vigorously. International law must apply without compromise to all and the instrumentalization of religion, whatever it may be, to justify the commission of massacres must be denounced by all with the same force.
This instrumentalization of the Jewish religion to justify crimes fundamentally contrary to Jewish values is reminiscent of the instrumentalization of Islam by extremists and terrorists.
No religion in the world can allow the massacre, starvation and displacement of an entire people with an overwhelming majority of victims being women and children. These atrocities are banned, even more so by monotheistic religions which place the prohibition of killing at the heart of their message. Because it is clear that it is no longer a question of a war of self-defense, but of mass murders, announced, planned, justified and assumed.
Paris, May 9, 2024
The French Council of Muslim Worship
