French protesters rally against Netanyahu's

Israeli Prime Minister enjamin Netanyahu was met by scores of protesters calling for him to be tried as a war criminal on Tuesday at the Paris stop of his tour of uropean capitals. “ e are here to say hello to Netanyahu and remind him and the world of the dozens of unarmed Palestinians that have been killed by the Israeli army in the last month,” said -year-old student ntoine, waving a flag expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people. The official objective of Netanyahu s visit was to rally French President mmanuel Macron s support pp against g Iran, as well as inaugurate a joint FrenchIsraeli cultural and scientific project. On the streets, however, the focus was firmly on Israel s treatment of the Palestinian people and the Israeli army s actions at the Gaza border. “I feel particularly concerned by the inhumane killing of the young medic 5azan al-Najjar, which was against international law,” said -year-old medicine student asmine who attended the protest in medical garb. The photograph of the -year-old Palestinian medic shot dead by an Israeli soldier on June was brandished by dozens of protesters at the rally to the chants of “Israel murderer, Macron accomplice”. “ e are scandalised by Israel s war crimes, the latest of which is firing on civilians in Gaza with explosive ammunition,” said Jacques, , a member of the France Palestine 6olidarity ssociation one of the organisers of the rally. “Today, Mr Macron and Mr Netanyahu are inaugurating the France-Israel season, which is a scandal because Israel violates France s values.” ccording to its official mission brief the “France-Israel 6eason” has as objective “to mark a new step in our France-Israel economic relationships and to renew the vision that French people have of Israel and that Israeli people have of France”. “They said it was because of anti-terrorist measures, you ve seen my face do you think I m a terrorist ” Jacques asked. The demonstration was largely peaceful although a small scuffle with police resulted in at least one demonstrator being detained. On Monday, three of France s top journalist unions also protested Netanyahu s visit in a joint statement stating that Macron receiving Netanyahu at this time was “unbearable”. The document denounces the killing of civilians in Gaza and the particular targeting of journalists and asks how it is not “inconceivable that the prime minister s visit goes on as if nothing had happened, while a number of NGOs and legal experts are talking about war crimes”. nger against Israel s policies has been running high in France as a poll carried out in May found that percent of French people have a “bad or very bad” image of Israel, percent believe Israel bears “a heavy responsibility for the absence of negotiation with Palestinians” and percent believe that “Israel is a threat to regional stability”. “I believe this is because of the current government of Israel,” said Jacques, “it is a farright government such as Israel has never known.”