Even accusing 'Israel' of genocide crosses 'moral red line': French FM

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
17 Jan 2024 18:14
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The French Foreign Minister says the notion of genocide cannot be exploited for political ends.

Mohammad Shouman carries the body of his daughter, Masa, who was killed in an Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, during her funeral in Rafah, southern Gaza, Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024 (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

France has opted not to endorse South Africa's genocide case against "Israel" at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), AFP reported citing the recently inaugurated French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne: who claimed that accusing "Israel" of genocide is "immoral".

"Accusing the Jewish state of genocide crosses a moral threshold. The notion of genocide cannot be exploited for political ends," the Foreign Minister said during a parliamentary session.

Earlier today, the Palestinian health ministry reported that the death toll in Gaza has increased to reach 24,448 martyrs since the onset of the aggression on October 7th: adding the number of wounded has reached 61,504.

Free World's genocide apologia

In addition to France, several Western have firmly opposed South Africa's case of genocide against "Israel" in the ICJ.

On January 12, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also said that Canada does not endorse the argument presented by South Africa before the International Court of Justice.

In early January, even before the hearings were set to begin, the US chastised South Africa for filing genocide charges against 'Israel', calling the proceedings "unproductive".

On January 12, Germany rejected accusations by South Africa before the UN's top court that "Israel" is committing genocide in Gaza and warned against what it called the "political instrumentalization" of the charge.

On January 14, UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron expressed disagreement with South Africa's move to bring a case against "Israel" at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over the genocide in Gaza.

Standards of French morality

While evidence of genocidal intent is abundant in the data provided by South Africa's legal delegation to the ICJ, as well as open sources, France insists that they're baseless allegations of atrocity exploited for political ends.

Ironically, it's notable to mention that the French Foreign Ministry has previously exploited allegations of baseless atrocities for political ends in Syria under the guidance of the US.

Back in August 2023, the Syrian Foreign Ministry vehemently condemned statements from the French Foreign Ministry and the spokesperson of the US National Security Council accusing the Syrian forces of using chemical weapons in 2013, slamming them as false and baseless accusations, SANA reported.

The Ministry dismissed the statements as being part of an ongoing campaign of misinformation and deceit. The Ministry further elaborated that such statements are designed to obfuscate the actual perpetrators behind various incidents and to mask the shared responsibility of France and the US in supporting terrorist factions operating within Syria.

The Ministry further emphasized that the terrorist groups, supported by the two Western countries and their allies, were the ones behind the chemical attacks in Eastern Ghouta in August 2013.

The Ministry added in its statement that the persistent patterns of frail allegations are clear proof of the two countries' involvement in various crimes that have occurred within Syrian borders.

Furthermore, since the early days of the aggression back in October, France was quick to offer their sincere support to the prospective genocide of Netanyahu's War Cabinet affirming that the fight should be "without mercy but not without rules".

Echoing Netanyahu's Islamophobic narratives of drawing parallels between Hamas and ISIS, Macron proposed repurposing the anti-ISIS coalition to fight Hamas. Only earlier that month France was revealed to have provided the ISIS-aligned Turkistan Islamic Party terrorist group with UAV parts which they had used to massacre civilians at a military academy graduation ceremony of the Syrian Arab Army.