A ‘Nakba Street’ outside Paris

Signs, which included description of Ben-Gurion as ‘war criminal,’ subsequently removed

The municipal authority of Bezons, an administrative district in the northwest suburbs of Paris, has named a street after the Nakba, the Palestinian term meaning “Catastrophe” marking the creation of the State of Israel and the defeat of the Arab armies in the War of Independence.

A plaque with a description of the street name says that it commemorates “the expulsion of 800,000 Palestinians and the destruction of the 532 villages in 1948 by the war criminal David Ben-Gurion for the creation of the State of Israel.”

Francis Kalifat, president of the CRIF umbrella organization of French Jews, wrote on Twitter that the street name “crosses a redline,” and the plaque’s description was “false, shocking, irresponsible and dangerous. They encourage the current antisemitic violence by justifying them historically.”

Bezons Mayor Dominique Lesparre belongs to the French Communist Party and is ardently pro-Palestinian. This is not the first time he has worked toward public displays of political affinity with the Palestinians in his municipality. According to a report in Le Parisien, the Bezon City Council passed a motion last February recognizing the “State of Palestine.”

Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahson described the incident as “a nauseating act. [It] promotes Palestinian terrorism and positions itself against peace.”

According to Nahson, the French government intervened in the matter and has had the signs removed.