The political leader of a small Islamic party in France, called the Union of Muslim Democrats of France (UDMF), Nagib Azergui, has submitted a candidate list for the European elections as announced. It is about “making the voice of the Palestinian people heard” and “fighting against the contamination of far-right ideas targeting citizens of the Muslim faith,” he explained.
This coalition will bring together “independent parties sharing the same Muslim ethics” in France, Spain (Partido Andalusi), Germany (BIG Partei), Belgium (led by Fouad Ahidar), the Netherlands (Nida) and Sweden ( Partit Nyans).
The party intends to compensate for its lack of financial resources with a field campaign, with a bus which will travel from mid-May to working-class neighborhoods, from Strasbourg to Île-de-France.
“We have very keen competition against us,” adds Nagib Azergui, while La France Insoumise (LFI) also insists on the situation in Gaza in its campaign. But “we want to work differently” by “not being satisfied with grand declarations”, he continues.
The UDMF calls on its site for “a radical change in French and European diplomacy” with the establishment of sanctions against Israel (ban on arms sales, commercial embargo and exclusion from all international competition in particular ).
It also demands, through this “Free Palestine” list, the removal of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, from the list of organizations recognized as terrorist by the European Union. As well as the ban on any citizen of an EU country from joining the Israeli army, under penalty of prosecution for war crimes.
The logo of the “Free Palestine” list represents the Palestinian territory, covering the entire territory today occupied by Israel, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, therefore symbolizing the erasure of the Jewish state.
Nagib Azergui “pursues a Brotherhood strategy”, analyzes Florence Bergeaud-Blackler, research fellow at the CNRS and author of a work on the Muslim Brotherhood, Brotherhood and its networks, published in 2023. “The Brotherhood networks in France have two modes of operation: either they lay their eggs in cuckoo parties, on the far left, hoping to infiltrate these organizations, or they openly display their own colors. These two strategies are complementary,” notes the researcher, who underlines the extent to which “the visibility of Islamist demands now involves support for Palestine.”
Florence Bergeaud-Blackler further emphasizes that “Hamas is part of the galaxy of the Muslim Brotherhood, and is developing a real social project which is not limited to the liberation of Palestine”.
The UDMF list counted 28,448 votes in 2019, or 0.13% of the votes cast. In a recent IFOP rolling, the “Free Palestine” list is credited with around 0.5% of the votes for the June 9 elections.