“Killer Israel, Macron accomplice”: thousands of people demonstrate in Paris against the war in the Middle East
Thousands of protesters gathered in Paris today to demand a boycott of Israel by the French government and an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, accusing President Emmanuel Macron of complicity in the “genocide” of the Middle East.
“We need a ceasefire, because the situation is becoming absolutely catastrophic and what is happening is unjustifiable, it is a massacre of citizens, women and children, babies, above all,” Yasmina told Lusa, 23-year-old with Lebanese nationality, who went to the demonstration to “defend the rights of Palestine and Lebanon”.
With the motto “End the genocide in Gaza”, thousands of people gathered from 2pm local time (1pm Lisbon) at Place de la République chanting phrases such as: “Free Palestine”, “Do river to the sea, Palestine must be free”, “Genocide in Gaza and Lebanon” and “Murderous Israel, complicit Macron”.
Yasmina also argued that it is necessary for Western countries, including France, to stop supplying weapons to Israel, which has been happening “for months”, despite the efforts of protesters and activists to stop it.
“They continue to supply weapons, because it is good to say that we propose a ceasefire, but we should not propose, we should impose a ceasefire”, added Yasmina.
The objective of Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister, is “to colonize all of Palestine and do the same with Lebanon”, but the Lebanese believes that Lebanon is “a country that has always managed to rise from all the catastrophes it has suffered”.
The mobilization, organized by the French Palestine Solidarity Association (AFPS) and its partners from the National Collective for a Just and Lasting Peace Between Palestinians and Israelis, began to be thought of in solidarity with the Palestinian people and a ceasefire in Gaza, ended for expanding to support Lebanon.
“When Ukraine is at war with Russia all the Europeans stand up saying that they are like us, but what does it mean to be like us? I am French, I am black and I am not physically like the Ukrainians or the Palestinians, but I am only human”, he told Lusa Malick, 33 years old.
For Malick, who went to the demonstration accompanied by his wife and three young children, “it is not normal to let people be killed in the South of the world and for no one to react” and a distinction must be made between “the Israeli government, the Zionists and the people Israeli.”
“But we must also say that the UN Security Council (United Nations), France, the United States of America, Western countries in general, are complicit in what is happening,” said Malick, adding that the prime minister Israeli “is a criminal who should be brought to justice and face life in prison.”
Protesters walked through the streets of Paris with hundreds of flags from Palestine and Lebanon, including two giant ones placed in the square, but also others from African countries, and posters with phrases such as “Boycott Israel”, “Indestructible Palestine”, “Zionism with expansionism ” and also with the face of the French President with the words “accomplice” and “war criminal”.
Photographs of some Palestinian political prisoners were also visible, as well as Palestinian citizens who died after the Israeli attack, in one of the vans that followed the route to Place de Clichy, eight kilometers away, along with dozens of police cars that were in the location of the demonstration even before it starts.
“There has been a genocide for a year and now there is a second that begins and perhaps a third that begins in the meantime. We are facing a war of extermination”, said Fadi, 50 years old, noting that the United Nations voted “a resolution that says that the Israeli occupation of the occupied territories is illegal”.
For Fadi, “Israel must leave all occupied territories, the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem”, and it is important that people protest so that the conflict ends.
Regarding the Israeli government, Fadi says that he does not know if “it can be called a government, it is a terrorist organization, which leads wars and attacks civilians”.
Nawel and Inés, both 23 years old, went together to show support for the “Palestinian, Lebanese and Iranian people”.
For Nawel, “weapons are the most important thing, they are the guiding principle of war and, unfortunately, as long as there is no arms embargo and France does not recognize the State of Palestine, conflicts will continue.”
“It is important to remember that the State of Israel is a genocidal State and that international justice has clearly declared that it is acting illegally,” said Nawel.
On October 7, 2023, the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas launched an unprecedented attack against Israel, killing 1,200 Israelis and taking 250 people hostage, which triggered a war, with the Israeli army destroying much of the Gaza Strip.
More than 41,000 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, more than half of them women and children.
Meanwhile, the conflict escalated, spreading across a large part of the Middle East, with hostilities between Israel and the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, an ally of Iran, intensifying.
Since September 23, Israel has intensified bombings in the south, east and in the capital of Lebanon, justifying the fight against the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah.
On Tuesday, Iran launched 200 missiles against Israel, in retaliation for the murders of the leader of Hamas, the head of Hezbollah and an Iranian general.
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