Related Quarterly Updates

In addition to organizing and hosting a peace conference in Paris on 1/15 (see “The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict” above), the French govt. published (11/24) new regulations calling for the accurate labeling of goods imported from the oPt. In line with the European Commission’s 11/2015 guidelines (see JPS 45 [2]), the purpose of the regulations was to alert customers that they were purchasing goods from a settlement, rather than Palestinian-made goods. Israel’s Foreign Ministry condemned the decision, and a spokesperson said (11/24), “We regret that France, where there’s a law against boycotts is advancing steps that could be seen as giving a tailwind to radicals and the boycott movement against Israel.”

                The Palestinian and Israeli human rights organizations B’Tselem and al-Haq received the 2018 Human Rights Prize of the French Republic on 10 December in a ceremony at the French Ministry of Justice. Both organizations work toward ending the Israeli occupation of Palestine. The prize was awarded despite pressure from Israel and drew heavy criticism from a number of Israeli officials.

               After an increase in anti-Semitic incidents in France, the French President Emmanuel Macron announced in a speech on 20 February that France is adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of anti-Semitism. This definition of anti-Semitism is controversial as it conflates criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism (for more on the conflation of criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism and the IHRA working definition of anti-Semitism, see the IPS publication, Zionism, Israel, and Anti-Semitism: Dangerous Conflation).

                France’s outgoing ambassador to the U.S. Gérard Araud told the Atlantic in an interview on 19 April that he believes Israel is an apartheid state. “They [Israel] have the West Bank, but at the same time they don’t have to make the painful decision about the Palestinians, really making them really, totally stateless or making them citizens of Israel. They won’t make them citizens of Israel. So they will have to make it official, which is we know the situation, which is apartheid. There will be officially an apartheid state. They are in fact already.” Ambassador Araud also said that U.S. president Donald Trump told French president Emmanuel Macron that he has given “everything to the Israelis; the Israelis will have to give me something.” Araud’s comments angered Israeli officials, who subsequently summoned France’s ambassador to Israel Hélène Le Gal for a reprimand and barred Israeli officials from meeting Araud, who was scheduled to travel to Israel as a civilian at the beginning of May.

Quarterly Updates for (1 Jan 1970 — 1 Jan 1970)

In addition to organizing and hosting a peace conference in Paris on 1/15 (see “The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict” above), the French govt. published (11/24) new regulations calling for the accurate labeling of goods imported from the oPt. In line with the European Commission’s 11/2015 guidelines (see JPS 45 [2]), the purpose of the regulations was to alert customers that they were purchasing goods from a settlement, rather than Palestinian-made goods.