France's 'apology for terrorism' law used to 'criminalise' Palestine solidarity
On 9 July, Francois Burgat, a prominent French expert on political Islam and pro-Palestine activist, spent eight hours in police custody at the Aix-en-Provence station in the south of France.
Burgat, whose expertise is widely sought after, was detained concerning a complaint filed for “apology for terrorism”, a charge which involves defending or positively portraying terrorist acts.
The complaint was filed by the European Jewish Organisation (Organisation Juive Europeen), a French NGO made up of around 60 volunteer lawyers that fight against antisemitism and anti-Zionism.
Burgat is accused of reposting a statement by the Palestinian group Hamas on X last January, which refuted allegations of sexual violence against Israelis during the 7 October attack, as reported by The New York Times.
Following backlash over his retweet, Burgat, a former research director at the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), posted that he had “infinitely more respect and consideration for the leaders of Hamas than for those of the state of Israel”.
A few days after his police questioning, Burgat, now retired, told Middle East Eye that his perspective on terrorism aligns “the same as the one made in his day by General de Gaulle”.
In November 1967, Charles de Gaulle, then president of France, declared: “Israel is setting up in the territories it has captured an occupation that will inevitably involve oppression, repression and expulsions and a resistance to this occupation is forming, which Israel in turn classes as terrorism.”
Nearly 400 investigations for complaints related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict were launched between October and December 2023, according to investigative website Mediapart. The majority of the cases are still being processed.
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