The day after the attacks launched by Hamas fighters against Israel, causing several hundred deaths and thousands of injuries, followed by response fire on buildings in the Gaza Strip, part of the left dissociated itself from the condemnation almost unanimous support for this Hamas offensive within the French political class. If Jean-Luc Mélenchon and several rebels (Manuel Bompard, Louis Boyard…) have put the two parties back to back, refusing to speak of a terrorist attack, movements and small groups of the extreme left have gone even further, this time advocating attacks against civilians carried out by Hamas.
This is particularly the case of the Indigenous Party, resulting from the Indigenous Movement of the Republic created in 2005 by Houria Bouteldja, its spokesperson, and Youssef Boussoumah. This small group based on a post-colonial ideology devotes most of its speech to denouncing the colonial history of France and the persistence of supposed systemic racism in the country, as well as to supporting the Palestinian cause and denouncing the policy of Israel.
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On Sunday, the Indigenous Party posted on Twitter: “May the Palestinian Resistance, which carries out its action with determination and confidence in heroic conditions, receive in these terrible hours all of our militant fraternity. Palestine will win, and its Victory will be ours. This message was accompanied by a drawing of Hamas fighters entering Israeli territory in microlights: it was these fighters who sowed terror among the border populations, notably massacring the participants of a rave party organized in the desert not far from Gaza. On Saturday, the day Hamas abuses against Israeli civilians began, the same Twitter account proclaimed: “Glory to the Palestinian resistance.”
This position was the subject of numerous indignant reactions, notably that of Simone Rodan-Benzaquen, director of the American Jewish Committee in France and Europe, who publicly challenged the government on the subject of these remarks, recalling the pain incurred in France for advocating terrorism.
On her personal Twitter account, where she also welcomed the Hamas offensive by writing that “resistance is a right”, Houria Bouteldja also believes that “what is currently happening in Palestine is a test” for the French left. In a series of tweets, the indigenous activist examines the reactions within France Insoumise with a scalpel, wondering if the party of Jean-Luc Mélenchon is in the process of switching to the Palestinian question, to become an “ally” of the indigenous people of the Republic.
But the Indigenous Party is not the only small group to apologize for the terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas since Saturday. He received support on Twitter from the Islam account
A leading figure in the post-colonial movement on the left, political scientist and activist Françoise Vergès legitimized the Hamas attack on Sunday, writing on Twitter: “On the one hand a colonial occupation with its systemic violence, its structural racism, its illusion of democracy, land theft, torture, on the other a legitimate fight for liberation. Nothing else. Palestine will win !”
The Permanent Revolution collective, which calls in particular to gather on October 18 to demand that France release the pro-Palestinian Lebanese terrorist Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, also proclaimed on its website its support for Hamas after the attack on Israel. “Resistance to oppression and colonialism is not terrorism!” writes Philippe Alcoy in a long article published on Saturday. Before driving the point home: “Despite all the political and methodological differences that we may have with the leadership of the Palestinian resistance, we recall our unconditional support for the Palestinian resistance, for its right to fight against oppression. What is happening in Palestine is historic and could give confidence to the people and workers of the region to fight against the oppression of Israeli colonialism.”
Several Permanent Revolution activists have individually taken up the cause of Hamas. Such as SUD-Rail trade unionist Anasse Kazib, who relayed images of the crossing of the Israeli border by Gaza fighters, accompanied by the comment: “Support for the Palestinian people who are standing in the face of this bloodthirsty state that is Israel”. Or even from the student Irène Karalis, who believes, commenting on other images of the events, that “the Palestinians are fighting to regain their land and their dignity”, while expressing her “support” for them.
The union section within the EHESS of Student Solidarity also displayed its explicit support for the Hamas attackers, distancing itself from those who call for peace between Israel and Gaza. “We distance ourselves from all positions which, on the left, call for de-escalation, speak out in favor of an illusory two-state solution, and put on the same level the violence of Palestinian resistance fighters and that of Palestinian settlers. “Israeli occupation army,” the student union wrote in a statement. “We bring our unwavering support to the struggle of the Palestinian people in all its modalities and forms of struggle, including armed struggle,” adds EHESS Student Solidarity.
Same story with the New Anticapitalist Party, which according to a press release published on Sunday, “does not join the litany of calls for de-escalation”, but launches “a call for the rapid organization of mobilizations in support of the Palestinian people”. “This time the offensive is on the side of the resistance,” rejoices the NPA of Philippe Poutou. The press release ends with the word “intifada”, followed by an exclamation point, thus explicitly advocating the two waves of popular violence directed against Israeli soldiers and civilians.
On Twitter, lawyer Gilles-William Goldnadel (also a columnist for Le Figaro) announced that his association, “Lawyers Without Borders”, “will file a complaint against the NPA for advocating terrorism”. He informed Le Figaro that he plans to extend his complaint to comments made by the Indigenous Party. The Union of Jewish Students of France (UEJF) also announced that it would file a complaint against the NPA for the same reasons. “We are alerting the public authorities,” indicates LICRA regarding the Solidaires Étudiants press release. The International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism also called for the dissolution of the Indigenous Party.
