The leader of France Insoumise considers that we must speak of “war crimes” to describe the abuses of Hamas in Israel. And go further.
Highly criticized since Saturday and the Hamas terrorist attack in the south of Israel, Jean-Luc Mélenchon wanted to explain his position during a conference in Bordeaux on Wednesday evening. The leader of France Insoumise has not qualified Hamas as a terrorist organization and considers that it is preferable not to do so, and instead to speak of “war crimes”. A position relayed in particular by Manuel Bompard and Mathilde Panot.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, clearly touched by the objections against him, declared: “They say: you did not convict. Of course you did! No crime will ever find favor in our eyes […] If we agreed to characterize a war action as terrorist, we would remove it from international law. For what ? Because international law does not provide for any terrorist denomination. The only two organizations that have been shown by the UN as terrorist organizations are Al-Qaeda and Daesh, period.” And added: “If we want what we call war crimes to be prosecuted and judged, it you have to call them by the name that allows you to do so.”
Hamas has launched a war operation against Israel. If we want war crimes to be judged and prosecuted, we must call them by their name. This is possible at the International Criminal Court.
We call what Hamas did on the pic.twitter.com/lC09iASg1L
— Jean-Luc Mélenchon (@JLMelenchon) October 11, 2023
And to add, evoking without explicitly naming them the military actions and the bombings on the Gaza Strip: “When France goes from “two States, peace now” to “a political solution for lasting peace” and qualifying certain terrorist acts, it is to justify two things: firstly, the right of revenge of others and the end of international law in favor of the strongest. If I am wrong, then show me.”
On a post “Israel applies to the population of Gaza. This accusation of war crimes is much more serious than that of terrorism. It can be judged by international law. It goes beyond the struggle of good against evil.”
The former presidential candidate was accused by several political figures of equating the actions of Hamas with the actions of the government of Israel. The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, described his position as “ignominious”. Tuesday, the president of Crif (Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France) had these words on RMC: “He chose not to express himself in solidarity with Israel but to legitimize terrorism by equating Israel with Israel. Hamas. He chooses clientelism, he chooses to side with enemies of the Republic.”