“Words have meaning”: this reminder from the Quai d’Orsay on the announcement of the first conclusions of the International Court of Justice in The Hague in the case brought by South Africa against Israel, accused of genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza. Words have a meaning and, in this case, the word “genocide”, coined in the aftermath of the Holocaust by the jurist Raphaël Lemkin, a survivor of Nazi extermination, has been distorted by the accusing country, a friend of Iran, and by the judges in The Hague. Admittedly, the Court has not yet delivered a final opinion. But it ordered the Hebrew State “to prevent any act of genocide and to prevent and punish its incitement”. Hamas immediately applauded this news, trumpeting the need to “force the occupiers to implement the Court’s decisions”.
In a press release dated December 20, 2023, entitled “Polls and Muslims of France: stop the manipulations”, the French Council of Muslim Worship (CFCM) attacks us, regarding two polls: “French Muslims and questions of religion and secularism” and ”French Muslims facing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”, respectively produced for the magazine ”Screen Watch” and the webTV ”Elamaniya.TV”, two publications of the Global Watch Analysis group , by a prestigious polling institute, Ifop.
Since the launch, in May 2019, of Global Watch Analysis and Screen Watch magazine – which define themselves as progressive, secular and humanist media, dedicated to resist fanaticism – we have placed the fight against antisemitism at the heart of our struggles. This is demonstrated by dozens of surveys, interviews and editorials published by Ian Hamel, Martine Gozlan, Jean-Marie Montali and Atmane Tazaghart.
Hats off to the illustrious analyst of French political life, Jean-François Kahn: a year ago, in an interview he gave us for our special issue “Resist the cretinization of the world”, he warned – with his customary brio – against the “fascisation of the mind”, while pointing out that fascism does not come from the rise of the far right or the far left, but from the junction of the two extremes.
Here we go!
In the tense context of the resurgence of anti-Semitic and (to a lesser extent) anti-Muslim acts, since the attacks of October 7, 2023, our Magazine Screen Watch commissioned the IFOP to carry out an exclusive survey among French Muslims about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its possible repercussions in France. This survey, the detailed results of which we are publishing here, provides three main lessons: two good news and one bad news.
The Belgian political class is perhaps more characterised than any other in Europe by its denial of what is currently happening in the Middle East. This has been particularly true since the pogrom of 7 October, which seems to have moved people far less than Israel’s response. In recent weeks, there has been one appalling and revolting comment after another:
Israeli bank Hapoalim has estimated the cost of the current military operation against Hamas at 27 billion shekels (€6.5 billion). This is equivalent to 1.3% of Israel’s GDP in 2022. Other sources consider this amount to be an underestimate: it will have to be at least double that, given the damage caused, reconstruction, compensation and aid for the most vulnerable sections of the population.
Among the arsonists fanning the flames of the Israel-Hamas conflict that is about to devour the Middle East and perhaps the world, Recep Tayyip Erdogan occupies a major place. President of a large Muslim nation, a member of NATO and calling for its integration into the European area, he has issued a resounding and sinister proclamation. On 26 October, three days before the centenary of the Republic founded by Atatürk, Erdogan declared before his country’s parliament: “Hamas is not a terrorist group, it is a group of liberators protecting their land!
Surrounded by European Union countries that consider the Palestinian Islamist organisation to be terrorist, Switzerland continues not to apply sanctions to Hamas, nor to ban its leaders from its territory. But since the attacks on 7 October, the Federal Council (government) has decided to use the word “terrorism” to describe the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood. It has also announced that it is going to carry out a “detailed analysis of financial flows” to the Middle East, a very Swiss way of saying that the government intends to control the sources of funding for Hamas.
In addition to its homemade rockets, Hamas has been receiving Iranian Fajr-5 rockets with a range of 75 kilometres for the past two years. Iran also supplies Hamas with Russian Kornet anti-tank missiles. Some missiles of the same type are also believed to have been acquired in Libya.