Ghassan Abu Sitta, rector of the University of Glasgow, was to tell the Senate in Paris about his experience as a doctor in Gaza since the Israeli offensive. But he was unable to enter France this Saturday, May 4 due to a ban on the Schengen area issued by Berlin.
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Ghassan Abu Sitta was prevented from entering France Saturday after being refused entry to German territory in April, he announced in a message on I am at Charles De Gaulle airport. They prevent me from entering France. I’m supposed to speak in the French Senate today [samedi] “, he wrote. “They say the Germans banned my entry into Europe for a year “, he added. A police source confirmed to AFP that a “ Schengen area ban sheet » issued by theGermany prevented his entry into Paris.
According to a French government source, if a person is reported for “ non-admission » in the Schengen Information System by a member country, it is not authorized to enter all the countries of the Schengen area.
The British-Palestinian doctor finally took off from Roissy to return to London on Saturday evening.
Read alsoGhassan Abu Sitta’s exclusive interview (in Arabic) with Monte Carlo Doualiya radio this Saturday
I am at Charles De Gaule airport. They are preventing me from entering France. I am supposed to speak at the French Senate today. They say the Germans put a 1 year ban on my entry to Europe.
— Ghassan Abu Sitta (@GhassanAbuSitt1) May 4, 2024
Reactions in the Senate
Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta, who spent 43 days in Gaza, notably in the al-Chifa hospital, was to participate in a conference in the Senate, organized by environmentalist senator Raymonde Poncet Monge. The organizers of the conference tried, without success, to intervene with the consulting firms Gerald Darmanin and of Stéphane Séjourné the French Ministers of the Interior and Foreign Affairs. The Senate, as an institution, is not at the origin of the event, but political groups are free to organize the conferences of their choice.
“ Scandalous, Ghassan Abu Sita, plastic and reconstructive surgeon who intervened Gaza is prevented from participating in a conference in the Senate », Reacted for his part Guillaume Gontard, president of the environmental group in the Senate, on X.
Banned from entering Germany in April
In mid-April, Dr Abu Sitta was banned from entering Germany, as was former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis. Both were to participate in a “Palestinian Congress” in Berlin which the German police put an end to an hour after it started. Questioned about Yanis Varoufakis, German authorities justified this measure by their desire “ to prevent any anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli propaganda “.
In a video broadcast the same day on X, Dr Abu Sitta then mentioned being banned from German territory “ the whole month of April “. He also denounced “ the repression of freedom of expression in Germany “, a country according to him ” partner in crime [de l’armée israélienne, NDLR] by silencing witnesses to the “genocide” » in Gaza.
Israeli forces withdrew in early April from al-Chifa hospital, where they said they had fought Palestinian fighters in a two-week operation. A mission led by the World Health Organization (WHO) reported on April 6 that a hospital had been reduced to an “empty shell” strewn with human remains.