Veteran politician Jean-Luc Melenchon heads the left wing LFI [Photo by SEBASTIEN SALOM-GOMIS/AFP via Getty Images]
The left-wing political party La France Insoumise (LFI) on Thursday criticised French government policy towards Israel after a ceasefire deal was announced in Gaza.
The party had previously adopted the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign in December.
While urging the prioritisation of immediate aid entry into the Gaza Strip, LFI criticised the timing of the ceasefire which came after 15 months of Gaza being heavily bombarded, calling it “a moral failure of the complicit governments”.
“French diplomacy, in particular, has not lived up to its history in the Middle East,” the statement read, adding that “not only did they unconditionally support an extreme-right government, the leader of which is now under arrest warrant from the ICC, but Macron’s government has censored and repressed civil society in France that mobilised against the war.”
LFI further pointed out that international law has been undermined by the West due to its complicity with the war on Gaza, even as it is “so quick to present themselves as guardians of international law.”
The US has vehemently opposed the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) rulings on both Israel’s occupation on the West Bank, which it deemed illegal, and its finding that it was plausible Israel was conducting genocide in its war on Gaza.
US lawmakers are attempting to place sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) over its arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
‘Legal and moral obligations’
In France has refused to commit to arresting Netanyahu following the ICC warrant and opposed the ICJ’s genocide case against Israel. It did however vote to adopt a non-binding resolution to enforce the advisory opinion of the ICJ over Israel’s occupation of the West Bank.
“France”, LFI said, “must finally meet its legal and moral obligations and put pressure so that the ceasefire announcement does not remain an empty promise.”
LFI also denounced Israel’s policies in the occupied West Bank and its military action in Lebanon, Syria and Yemen.
The statement comes after the left-wing party, headed by veteran politician Jean-Luc Melenchon, officially adopted the aims of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel last December.
“By joining the BDS campaign, France Insoumise is making a concrete act of solidarity, reaffirming its commitment to human rights and justice,” the statement read in December.
“This membership reflects our commitment alongside oppressed groups and fully embodies our vision of an independent France dedicated to peace.”
On Thursday, the official BDS campaign “saluted” the decision, calling on the party to pressure the French government to hold Israel accountable for its actions in Gaza.
“We call on all political parties to follow suit and join the BDS movement now to end complicity with Israel’s regime of military occupation, apartheid and genocide against the Indigenous Palestinian people and its brutal aggression in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Beyond.”
LFI is one of France’s largest political parties and largest member of the left-wing bloc the New Popular Front in the French parliament.
