The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office of the Paris Judicial Court has opened an investigation into French-Israeli citizens for trying to block aid trucks to Gaza between January and May 2024.
The complaint alleging “complicity in genocide” was brought by two Parisian lawyers, Marion Lafouge and Damia Taharraoui, in November 2024.
On Friday, Agence-France Presse cited Taharraoui and Lafouge as saying, “We are very satisfied with this decision, which is perfectly consistent with the factual and legal demonstration and the objective evidence provided by the civil parties, and we are waiting to see whether the rest of the investigation will be just as consistent.”
French law allows for the prosecution of people suspected of committing crimes against humanity if they are “ordinarily resident in the territory of the Republic.”
Prosecutors did not provide details on those being investigated. (One of those on the list, Rachel Touitou, told JNS there are at least three.)
French media said the individuals were involved with two groups that oppose aid to Gaza: “Tzav 9” (Touitou worked as its spokesperson), and “Israël is Forever.”
The groups argued that sending supplies into Gaza only strengthens Hamas. (The terrorist group profited by at least a half billion dollars from aid, Channel 12 reported in September.)
The complaint concerns events that allegedly took place at the Nitzana and Kerem Shalom crossings to Gaza, a source told AFP.
Tzav 9, a grassroots group, took credit several times for stopping, at least temporarily, convoys of aid trucks heading into Gaza.
The French lawyers brought the complaint on behalf of two plaintiffs: the Union Juive Française pour la Paix, or “French Jewish Union for Peace” (UFJP),, and an unnamed French-Arab citizen affiliated with another group, “Urgence Palestine.”
UFJP supports sanctions and boycotts on “apartheid Israel,” as does Urgence Palestine.
In 2018, the French government demanded that UFJP return taxpayer funds after a media investigation found that the group had produced video clips likening Zionism to Nazism and alleging that Zionism is antisemitic. The French government also asked that its logo be removed from the UJFP website, according to NGO Monitor, a Jerusalem-based watchdog group.
In June 2024, the Biden administration sanctioned Tzav 9 and froze its U.S. assets, claiming its members vandalized aid trucks, something the group vehemently denied.
U.S. President Donald Trump rescinded the sanctions against the group within hours of taking office.
