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Paris March Against Antisemitism Divides France’s Political Parties
Marine Le Pen, leader of the far right National Rally (RN) in France, lays a wreath at the monument to the Jewish victims of the Warsaw Ghetto. Photo: Attila Husejnow /SOPA Images/Reuters
i24 News – French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has set off a cacophony of criticism over her plans to attend a weekend march to protest rising antisemitism in France. Critics say that her once-pariah party has failed to shake off its antisemitic heritage despite growing political legitimacy.
France’s Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, numerous political parties and citizens are to attend the Sunday march called by the speakers of the country’s two houses of the parliament. Le Pen has said that she and her National Rally party also will be there, in what some see as an attempt to leverage the Israel-Hamas war to make herself more palatable to mainstream voters.
Party founder Jean-Marie Le Pen, her father, was convicted repeatedly of antisemitic hate speech and played down the scope of the Holocaust. For one, back in 2016, he was fined €30,000 ($34,000) over denying the Holocaust while speaking to the French broadcaster BFMTV.
His daughter Marine — runner-up in the last two presidential elections and likely a top contender in 2027 — has worked to scrub the party’s image, kicking her father out and changing its name from National Front to National Rally.
Le Pen has recently criticized the amount of aid France provided to Gaza stating that: “France has spent millions on the water network in Gaza. I am for international cooperation but I also understand the anger of the Overseas France when they see that once again, they have come second in directing international aid!”
On a appris que la France avait dépensé des millions pour le réseau d’eau à Gaza. Je suis pour la coopération internationale mais comprenez la colère de nos compatriotes d’Outre-mer lorsqu’ils voient qu’une nouvelle fois, ils sont passés après l’aide internationale ! pic.twitter.com/TiaVFDYcDY
— Marine Le Pen (@MLP_officiel) November 6, 2023
Meanwhile, the hard-left La FranceUnbowed Party (LFI) is said to boycott the march. However, the LFI MP Aurelie Trouve stated that “We will be present at all initiatives which combat all forms of racism, hatred, discrimination , but without the extreme right, it is a principle for us.”
The Socialist Party, the Communist Party and the Green European Party have all confirmed their participation in the “great civic march.”
The march comes as France finds itself among the countries where the number of antisemitic incidents has skyrocketed since Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7. Earlier in October, Jewish homes in Paris were marked with Stars of David, while a teenager with a knife was arrested near the Strasbourg synagogue.
The post Paris March Against Antisemitism Divides France’s Political Parties first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Palestinian Prime Minister Announces New Reform Package
FILE PHOTO: Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa holds his first cabinet meeting in Ramallah in the West Bank, April 2, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Mohammed Torokman/File Photo
Newly installed Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa announced a package of reforms on Tuesday aimed at strengthening the Palestinian Authority (PA) amid increased global pressure for a revival of political dialogue with Israel.
Mustafa, appointed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas earlier this year, said his government would introduce measures to improve transparency and fight corruption, overhaul the justice system and security sectors and improve public sector efficiency.
In addition, he said the health and education system would be improved, public finances strengthened and economic reforms implemented.
The reform pledges largely match promises previously made by his predecessor Mohammed Shtayyeh, who announced his resignation in February as the PA looked to build support for an expanded role amid Israel’s war against the Islamist terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.
The United States and other international partners have pressed the PA to implement sweeping reforms to restore confidence among Palestinians who have become deeply disillusioned with the body set up under the interim Oslo Peace Accords more than 30 years ago.
The urgency to make reforms has increased as attention has turned towards the governance of Gaza, once Israel winds up its military campaign against Hamas following the Oct. 7 attack on Israel led by fighters from the Islamist movement.
Despite resistance from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Washington and its allies say the PA must be involved in administering the enclave once Israeli troops pull out.
The United States and most Western countries say only a two-state solution, entailing an independent Palestinian state next to Israel, can offer the chance of a peaceful resolution to decades of conflict.
However, Abbas reacted angrily last week when Washington vetoed a Palestinian request for full United Nations membership, saying the PA would reconsider bilateral ties with the United States following the decision.
The PA has been grappling with a severe financial crisis which has left most public sector employees receiving only part of their normal salary for the past two years.
The crisis has worsened since the start of the war in Gaza as Israel has cut off some of the tax revenues it collects on the PA’s behalf, accusing the Authority of supporting Hamas.
The post Palestinian Prime Minister Announces New Reform Package first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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France: Man Suspected of Abducting, Raping Jewish Woman ‘to Avenge Palestine’
Illustrative. Star of David graffiti daubed on a Jewish-owned building in Paris. Photo: Reuters/Magali Cohen
i24 News – A man in a suburb of Paris is suspected of abducting and raping a Jewish woman, French media reported on Tuesday. The suspect reportedly said his acts represented a “vengeance for Palestine.”
The suspect is a resident of Gennevilliers, one of the immigrant-heavy suburbs of Paris. It is understood he was charged with kidnapping, false imprisonment, rape and making death threats.
French media reported the suspect sent the victim’s mother messages saying he was going to “prostitute” her daughter. The police reportedly were able to geo-locate the victim’s phone and end her ordeal after several days.
The post France: Man Suspected of Abducting, Raping Jewish Woman ‘to Avenge Palestine’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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‘Completely Baseless’: Reports of Mass Graves at Gaza Hospitals are False, IDF Says
Smoke rises as displaced Palestinians take shelter at Al Shifa hospital, amid the ongoing conflict between Hamas and Israel, in Gaza City, Nov. 8, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Doaa Rouqa
i24 News – Claims that IDF troops left mass graves on the territory of two Gaza hospitals, where they buried executed Palestinians, are merely the latest lurid fabrication to issue from Hamas, the Israeli military said on Saturday.
“The claim that the IDF buried Palestinian bodies is completely baseless,” the IDF says in response to a query on the matter.
Hamas falsely claimed they found bodies in mass graves at the Nasser and Al Shifa hospitals after the facilities was abandoned by Israeli troops, following counterterrorism operations.
The IDF said it exhumed a number of corpses buried by Palestinians on the grounds of the Nasser hospital in an effort to track hostages.
Earlier in the day Ravina Shamdasani, the spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that the U.N. human rights office was working on corroborating Palestinian reports that 283 bodies were found at Nasser and 30 at Al Shifa.
The post ‘Completely Baseless’: Reports of Mass Graves at Gaza Hospitals are False, IDF Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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