Macron: French citizens fighting for Israel cannot be labeled 'genociders'

President Emmanuel Macron has insisted that French citizens fighting for Israel cannot be labeled “genociders,” as French judges pursue legal action against nationals also holding Israeli passports who are accused of aiding Israel’s aggression on Gaza.

Speaking to Radio J, Macron said that the French who also hold Israeli passports are “children of France” who must never be accused of genocide.

“We cannot accept, we must never accept that any of our children, that any French person, be accused of being genocidal,” he stressed, adding, “That is impossible, and it represents a reversal of values to which we must not yield.”

Amid mounting legal scrutiny, Macron further claimed that “some people who sometimes played an active role in the anti-racist struggle, people who defended causes, have used, distorted what is happening internationally to try to dehumanize, essentialixze" fellow French citizens who also hold Israeli passports. 

On February 3, French authorities issued warrants requiring two French women who also hold Israeli passports to appear before an investigating magistrate for “complicity in genocide” over allegations they attempted to block humanitarian aid from entering the besieged Gaza Strip during Israel’s ongoing genocidal aggression.

The warrants, however, do not order their arrest.

The women, born in France and now living in the occupied Palestinian territories, are Nili Kupfer-Naouri, head of the group “Israel Is Forever”, and Rachel Touitou, an activist linked to Tsav 9, which is a far-right group formed by the families of Israeli settlers who were taken captive in Gaza.

Complaints were filed by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, Al-Haq and Al-Mezan over direct obstructing of life-saving aid between 2023 and 2025.

Back in June 2024, the US Department of State designated Tsav 9 a “violent extremist Israeli group that has been blocking, harassing and damaging convoys carrying lifesaving humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians in Gaza.”

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Additional legal action has targeted two French soldiers fighting for Israel, Sasha A and Gabriel B H, who are accused in a July NGO complaint of “war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide” for killing dozens of unarmed Palestinian civilians outside combat zones in 2023 and 2024, according to Le Monde.

Although Israeli law exempts nationals that hold other passports and live abroad from mandatory service, Israeli military data indicates that more than 6,100 French nationals voluntarily served in the army during the genocide.

Meanwhile, Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur for occupied Palestinian territory, rebuked Macron, writing, “We do not label someone a criminal or a genocidaire based on their nationality: it is up to the courts to decide.”

She also stressed that anyone serving in a military suspected of crimes may face investigation, prosecution and conviction if evidence warrants.

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