The government of François Bayrou, a new subject of concern for the solidarity movement with Palestine
The new Prime Minister, François Bayrou, has just announced the composition of his government. Gérald Darmanin is appointed to the post of Keeper of the Seals, Minister of Justice, Bruno Retailleau keeps his post of Minister of the Interior and Jean-Noël Barrot that of Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE), they will be joined among others by Aurore Bergé and Manuel Valls.
The French authorities, under the leadership of Emmanuel Macron, had long accustomed us to no longer believing in their abilities to choose as ministers of the Republic political figures open to the dramatic situation of the Palestinian people and capable of taking into consideration their globality. the challenges of this situation in the Near and Middle East. Personalities capable of ensuring that France can make a positive contribution to the application of law and international justice.
Unfortunately, the signals sent by the Élysée and Matignon with these appointments are more than worrying. For the Palestinian people first and their representatives who are obviously not unaware of the explicit and unilateral political support of these personalities for the genocidal government of Benjamin Netanyahu.
Support which led them all to validate the positions taken by the Élysée on “Israel’s right to defend itself”, to support its offensive against the population in Gaza and to endorse all the procrastination of the French diplomacy, whether on the non-recognition of the State of Palestine or on the continuation of military cooperation with Israel.
Gérald Darmanin and Bruno Retailleau, who will henceforth embody the justice-police tandem in the face of the associative movement and in particular the movement of solidarity with Palestine, have above all in common the obsession with a certain conception of public order in France which justifies in their eyes silencing any expression of this solidarity in the face of the ongoing genocide. No one has forgotten Gérald Darmanin’s instructions to the prefects and his scandalous conflations with the apology of terrorism and/or anti-Semitism to encourage them to ban our demonstrations or our public meetings in solidarity with Palestine. As are his ignominious attacks against MPs who dare to challenge France’s foreign policy, the repression against Sciences-Po students or trade union activists protesting against the genocide in Gaza. A repressive policy that Bruno Retailleau has taken up by recently endorsing other bans against the conferences of Salah Hammouri or Rima Hassan and the recent arrests of solidarity activists.
Concerning Jean-Noël Barrot, the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, it was he who defended the idea last November of an alleged immunity applicable to Benjamin Netanyahu, against the opinion of the International Criminal Court ( ICC) who had just issued an international arrest warrant against the latter for war crimes and crimes against humanity, suggesting that he would not be arrested if he came to France. He is also the one who justifies France continuing to sell military technologies to Israel under the pretext that they are only used defensively. He is also a supporter, like Emmanuel Macron, of the recognition of a State of Palestine “when the time is right” without ever giving the slightest deadline to a political decision that should have been taken years ago.
How can we imagine that such personalities will commit themselves to defending the application of recent resolutions of the UN General Assembly, although voted for by France, and commit the government to the path of resolute opposition to the impunity from which it benefits? Israel to continue its policy of occupation and colonization not only in Palestine, but also in Lebanon or Syria?
How can we imagine that this “new” government could reorient French diplomacy in the direction of the interests of the people of the region, in particular those who suffer from the policy of the Israeli apartheid regime which should have been sanctioned long ago both economically and policy ?
On the contrary, the maintenance or arrival in François Bayrou’s government of these fanatical supporters of Israel makes us fear the worst possible setbacks in terms of defending the right of the Palestinian people to decide their future!
It is to be feared that in addition to renunciations in the face of Israel’s omnipotence in the region, there will be added the government’s desire to further silence the voices of those who fight every day to defend the legitimate rights of the people. Palestinian.
The France Palestine Solidarity Association can only commit to continuing with them this essential work of solidarity and to defending with strength and conviction our common freedoms of expression and action as soon as they are called into question.
At a time when popular mobilizations in France and around the world give reason to hope, when condemnations of Israel are more and more numerous, when more and more States, including European ones, are demanding an end to colonization and vote at the UN for a rapid end to the occupation, we must remain mobilized to obtain a ceasefire in Gaza, an end to the genocide and the protection of the Palestinian people so that they can finally exercise his right to self-determination.
AFPS
