France on Wednesday became the latest Western country to reject accusations that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinian civilians in Gaza, a charge that was recently brought before a United Nations court in The Hague.
Stéphane Séjourné, France’s newly appointed foreign minister, told lawmakers in France’s lower house of Parliament that “the rule of law applies to all, and systematic strikes in Gaza must cease.”
But, Mr. Séjourné added, “words have meaning.”
“To accuse the Jewish state of genocide is to cross a moral threshold,” he said. “The notion of genocide cannot be exploited for political ends. This has always been our position.”
Israel is facing the charge of genocide at the International Court of Justice, where South Africa has brought a case arguing that Israel “means to create conditions of death” in Gaza and demanding that the court order an emergency suspension of the military campaign there. The Israeli authorities deny the accusation.
South Africa has won praise at home and from other countries for challenging what they see as a Western-led global order that is biased toward Israel.
The United States has called the case meritless, and several European countries have rejected it too. Germany, which intervened in the case as a third party in Israel’s favor, said that there is “no basis whatsoever” to South Africa’s claim. Israel was founded in the aftermath of the Nazi-led genocide of European Jewry, and Germany has rooted much of its post-Holocaust identity in the idea of supporting the Jewish state.
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