The George Soros-backed Open Society Foundations is taking up the cause of organizations seeking to force France to boycott Israeli business in eastern Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria.
Five entities that identify as human rights organizations filed a legal challenge with France’s highest administrative court on Wednesday asking for it to order the government to “prevent trade or investment relations that assist in the maintenance” of Israel’s presence beyond the so-called Green Line, which was established as an armistice line in 1949 after the Arab war on a nascent Israeli state failed.
The International Centre for Justice for Palestinians, Law for Palestine, International Federation for Human Rights, Association des juristes pour le respect du droit international and the Ligue des droits de l’Homme cite a July 2024 non-binding International Court of Justice opinion and subsequent non-binding resolution by the United Nations General Assembly claiming that the presence of Jews beyond the Green Line is illegal and must be eliminated.
The ICJ is the principal U.N. judicial arm and is located in The Hague.
The five organizations previously submitted a notice to several French government ministries asking for compliance with their demand but received no reply.
The French government said in September 2025 that it recognized a Palestinian state, and it votes regularly against Israel at the U.N. Security Council. It has also backed the European Union policy of differentiating between goods produced in borders of Israel that are recognized internationally and those in eastern Jerusalem and other territories that some dispute.
France has also issued sanctions against Israelis, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, in part for activities in those territories.
The organizations are asking the court to create a blacklist of companies doing business in Jewish communities beyond the Green Line and to prohibit any French nationals from doing so, including holding investments in companies taking part and freezing assets as a sanction.
The plaintiffs are being advised by the Open Society Justice Initiative, which is an extension of the anti-Israel Open Society Foundations.
“The International Court of Justice left no doubt that states cannot stand on the sidelines when faced with legal obligations,” stated James Goldston, executive director of Open Society Justice Initiative. “International law only has force if states are prepared to implement it in practice.”
