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Rabat – The newly appointed French Foreign Affairs Minister, Stephane Sejourne, has embarked on his tenure by stirring up controversy, after he raised unproven allegations against Hamas to justify France’s rejection of South Africa’s genocide case against Israeli occupation forces.
“On October 7, Israel suffered a barbaric terrorist attack. 1,200 dead, mutilated, raped and children murdered,” he claimed during a heated parliament debate.
Similar unverified claims about the beheading of Israeli children and alleged sexual assaults and rape of Israelis by Hamas members have gone viral on social media since October 7 last year.
The claims came after an Israeli reporter alleged that she talked to Israeli soldiers who “witnessed” decapitated babies.
Such claims and unproven allegations were facing frequent challenges from various media outlets and reports including Israeli media, which pointed out the lack of material and evidence supporting similar occurrences.
Haaretz was one of the news outlets that challenged Israeli occupation forces’ narratives, sharing data that debunked the Israeli narrative that Palestinian resistance targeted and beheaded babies.
The initial data the news outlet shared said that out of 902 total casualties reported, only seven were between the ages of 4 and 7, and nine were between the ages of 10 and 17. The remaining 885 casualties appear to be adults.
Despite its conflicting statements throughout the war on Palestinians, the White House also denied initial claims made by the US President that he saw photos, which allegedly documented the beheading of babies or torturing of Israelis.
A few days following Hamas’ October 7 Al Aqsa flooding attack, a White House spokesperson said that US officials and the president “have not seen pictures or confirmed such reports independently.”
The spokesperson made his remarks to the Washington Post just days after Biden claimed he “never really thought I would see, have confirmed, pictures of terrorists beheading children.”
Double standards at its best
France, like members of the Israeli occupation forces, is now using similar unverified claims amid pressure the Elysee is facing about the French government’s approach to South Africa’s genocide case against Israel.
“Accusing the Jewish state of genocide crosses a moral threshold. The notion of genocide cannot be exploited for political ends,” Sejourne told parliament.
French entrepreneur, Arnaud Bertrand exposed France’s double standard approach, recalling that the French parliament voted to recognize the Holdomr in Ykraike as a genocide.
He also recalled that France voted to recognize the Uyghur genocide.
Unbelievable. Stéphane Séjourné, France’s new minister of foreign affairs, essentially said that France wouldn’t support the ICJ’s decision if it rule against Israel because accusing them of genocide is “crossing a moral threshold” and is “exploiting the notion of genocide for… https://t.co/iSbQa1PgFD
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) January 18, 2024
“When it’s directed at geopolitical foes of the West, France happily exploits the notion of genocide for political purposes,” he said, adding that the situation demonstrates that the war on Palestinians is the “war of the ‘rules-based order’ with its double standards versus ‘international law.’”
France’s position is also in line with the US, which describes South Africa’s ICJ case as “unfounded.”
US State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller said that it is those who are “violently attacking Israel who continue to openly call for the annihilation of Israel.”
Germany also rejected the South Africa case, describing it as a “political instrumentalization” of the UN Genocide Convention with “no basis in fact.”
Such remarks surprisingly come from countries that explicitly state their commitment to continue to defend human rights and freedom of expression.
The campaign against South Africa’s case comes as Israeli occupation forces continue their murderous campaign targeting civilians, including women and children.
Israeli occupation forces have to date killed over 24,448 Palestinians in Gaza, including at least 9,600 children.
