France

A rally in support of Israel, Marseille, July 27, 2014. (Alain Azria/CC BY 2.0)
Why are French Jews silent on the occupation?
In the world’s third largest Jewish community, a monopolistic establishment and a fraught discourse on antisemitism leaves no space for criticism of Israel.
By Deborah Leter August 3, 2022
Israeli security forces take position to protect Jewish visitors as they make their way to visit a Jewish religious site in the West Bank city of Hebron, November 3, 2018. (Wisam Hashlamoun/Flash90)
Why are foreign lawmakers aiding Israel’s attacks on Palestinian rights?
Two resolutions passed by the French parliament and U.S. Congress last week have troubling implications for Palestinians and their allies.
By Amjad Iraqi December 13, 2019
Women activisits hold up signs during an action that attempts to dismantle a barbed wire part of the gate of the Seperation Wall in Bil'in, as part of the weekly protest against the Separation Wall and the occupation, West Bank, August 14, 2009. Hundreds of Palestinians, Israeli, and international activists, responded to the Popular Committee's call to resist to participate in the action. (Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)
We cannot let France silence its humanist Jews
Jewish anti-occupation activist Olivia Zemor faces a lawsuit from a pro-Israel group after calling for celebrities to boycott Israel. Here’s why I’m going to France to testify on her behalf.  By Udi Aloni This week I am traveling to Paris to serve as an expert witness in court. In an unprecedented move, the French government…
By +972 Magazine March 18, 2018
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Supporters of French president-elect Emmanuel Macron celebrate outside the Louvre in Paris, May 7, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
We’ll always have Paris
While the French gave the world a lesson in hope, democracy and standing up to fascism, the Israeli government advanced a childish, nationalistic law that declares: we are Jews, they are Arabs, we’re good, they’re bad. By Alon Mizrahi Europe and the world expect us to defend the spirit of the Enlightenment, under threat in…
By +972 Magazine May 8, 2017
La Pen and Macron posters in France. (Marion Sindel)
Two bad choices for leftists in France
The hope of having a presidential candidate who advocates for genuine change vanished on Sunday, and reality slapped us in the face. We now have to choose between a cheery capitalist and a fascist with a shark’s smile. By Maxime Benatouil PARIS — Some traditions are meant to be kept intact. In spite of technological…
By +972 Magazine April 26, 2017
Illustrative photo of a woman in a burkini. (bellmon1/CC BY-NC 2.0)
Liberal Europe doesn’t understand: The burkini is a feminist issue
By banning the burkini, the French view themselves as the ones liberating veiled women from Muslim patriarchy. Instead they are only imposing a different form of oppression. By Eiad Shalabne The images of French policemen handing out tickets to Muslim women in religious garb on the beaches of Nice this past week reflect a depressing interpretation of the essence of…
By +972 Magazine August 26, 2016
Imprisoned PLO leader Marwan Barghouti (SP Foto/CC BY NC-ND 2.0)
Marwan Barghouti is planning a comeback — from behind bars
He may be serving five consecutive life sentences in an Israeli prison but Marwan Barghouti is the only leader who has a chance to succeed Mahmoud Abbas and unite the Palestinian people. This is how he plans on doing it.
By Menachem Klein April 16, 2016
French soldiers capture FLN fighters in Algeria, 1958. (Author unknown)
No, Mr. Netanyahu, answers to terrorism are not all the same
The prime minister compares Israel’s predicament with the Palestinians to France’s current one with jihadists, but the true comparison is to France’s struggle with Algeria in the 1950s and early 1960s. In Paris early this week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu drove home a message he’s been delivering for decades: “Israel supports Europe in its fight…
By Larry Derfner January 16, 2015
Protesters hold vigil for the slain journalists of Charlie Hebdo, Strasbourg, France, January 7, 2015. (photo: Claude TRUONG-NGOC CC BY-SA 3.0)
France must not push Muslims into the arms of extremists
The terrorists who attacked Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket were well-trained, spoke French and knew their actions would play into the hands of France’s Islamophobic right. Let’s not give them what they’re after. By Yossi Dahan As Israel’s news outlets covered the terrorist attacks in Paris, we watched how our analysts and correspondence suddenly…
By Haokets January 11, 2015
Benjamin Netanyahu. (photo: Activestills.org)
The real reason Bibi wants French Jews to move to Israel
By calling on France’s Jews to move to Israel, Netanyahu is promoting a worldview in which there is no national conflict, no occupation and no Palestinian people. There are only Jews and radical Muslims.  The terror attacks in France have caused Netanyahu to, once again, conflate his role as prime minister with his imaginary role as supreme…
By Orly Noy January 11, 2015
Stock photo of French marines patrolling in Paris. (Photo by Kavalenkau / Shutterstock.com)
France needs no one’s advice on fighting Islamist terror
A look at the facts. In Israel and America, France has this reputation of being the ultimate effete, left-liberal country – so politically correct, so multiculti, so morally relativist and scared to death of offending any minority, especially Muslims, that it’s incapable of dealing with the threat of jihadist terror. Israelis and Americans (led of…
By Larry Derfner January 11, 2015
"Liberty Leading People", by Eugène Delacroix
France Decapitated (again)
[Completely off topic] The New York Times’ Roger Cohen recently traveled to Paris and didn’t like what he saw. His latest op-ed is titled “France Decapitated,” and it predicts a dark future for The Republic. My favorite Francophile, former Haaretz Editor in Chief Dov Alfon, who now publishes a great Hebrew-language magazine called Alaxon, adds some…
By Noam Sheizaf July 10, 2014
Expansion and building of new settlement units of Beit Aryeh on the land of the West Bank village of Abud, near Ramallah, September 13, 2013. (Ahmad Al-Bazz/Activestills.org)
What’s the significance of a ‘settlement-free Europe?’
The direct effects of official sanctions against Israeli settlements are limited. But the momentum created by such moves inspires and pushes private actors to take their own steps in the same direction. France on Tuesday published a warning to its citizens against doing business in or with Israeli settlements in the West Bank, Golan Heights…
By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man June 25, 2014
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