reports in Electronic Intifida 24 February 2022
As world attention focuses on the Russian attack on Ukraine, France’s interior minister announced that he is banning two Palestine solidarity organizations.
Gérald Darmanin tweeted on Thursday that “at the request” of President Emmanuel Macron, he would move to dissolve Palestine Vaincra (Palestine Will Win) and Comité Palestine Action (Palestine Action Committee).
The interior minister included a link to a news report from Europe 1 with more details about his action.
“Under cover of supporting the Palestinian cause, the government accuses the groups of promoting hatred of Israel,” Europe 1 states.
Citing Darmanin, Europe 1 says that Palestine Vaincra is being banned for “calling for hatred, discrimination and violence.” France is also accusing it of ties with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a political party and resistance organization that Israel and France view as “terrorist.”
Notably, allegations of ties with the PFLP is the same pretext Israel gave in October for designating six renowned Palestinian human rights groups as “terrorist” organizations.
Some of those groups are funded by the European Union and its member states.
According to Europe 1, Darmanin accuses Palestine Vaincra of claiming that Muslim people around the world are oppressed by “imperialism and world Zionism” and for “spreading the idea of there being Islamophobia at a global level.”
Palestine Vaincra says that it “supports the Palestinian people’s struggle against Zionism, imperialism and Arab reactionary regimes for the liberation of all of Palestine, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River.”
One of its current campaigns aims to raise the issue of Palestine during France’s presidential elections scheduled for later this year.