France has just paved the way for any and all Gazans to be welcomed as refugees on its soil. This is a major decision that could lead to a massive influx of refugees from the Gaza Strip, potentially including Hamas supporters. Voices on the Right are speaking out against what they call an irresponsible decision.
The decision follows a ruling concerning a Palestinian mother and her minor son, who fled the Gaza Strip shortly after the attacks of October 7th and were taken in by the OFPRA (Office français pour la protection des réfugiés et apatrides, or French office for the protection of refugees and stateless persons).
Initially, the OFPRA had refused to grant protection to the woman and her son. However, the CNDA (Cour nationale du droit d’asile, or national court of asylum) judges ruled that the conditions had changed and that persecution by the Israeli army was now systematic and widespread.
Based on their case, the CNDA ruled on Friday, July 11th, that any Palestinian asylum seekers could benefit from the same protection on the grounds that they were persecuted because of their nationality.
The mere fact of having Palestinian nationality is now grounds for eligibility for asylum in France. Even though Palestinians do not form a recognised state, it is their membership of a particular community that places them at risk of persecution by Israel, the judges ruled.
In France, this decision is far from unanimous. Internationally, by systematically granting refugee status to Palestinians as a community, France is sending a further signal of defiance towards Israel and support for the recognition of the Palestinian state, something that can only exacerbate tensions between Paris and Tel Aviv.
At the national level, the right wing is concerned about the influx of Palestinian immigrants that this decision will encourage, which likely won’t be seriously controlled, thereby allowing Hamas militants to enter France. Éric Zemmour, president of the Reconquête party, expressed alarm in a Le Figaro op-ed over this decision, which he says throws the door wide to “Hamas loyalists,” and condemns the active role played by the CNDA in immigration, outside the control of elected authorities: “What is the point of elections? What are MPs, Emmanuel Macron, François Bayrou, and Bruno Retailleau for? Nothing. They just watch the trains and asylum seekers go by,” he exclaimed.
Éric Ciotti, president of the Union des Droites pour la République (UDR) and ally of the Rassemblement National (RN), on X denounced a “security and migration madness” made possible by a total absence of “political or democratic control.” Other opponents of the decision also point out that France has no obligation to take in refugees from Gaza when there are so many Muslim countries around the world that would be better suited to do so.
Feminist activist Henda Ayari, a former Salafist Muslim now known for her pro-secularism views, expressed concern about the arrival on French soil of people whose “customs and codes do not respect ours.”
On Friday, July 11th, 37 Gazan refugees arrived in France with a pass to leave Palestinian territory. The concern of the French people is understandable: on Sunday, July 13th, two Palestinian refugees were involved in an altercation in Paris. One of the two men was stabbed in the back with a 20-cm blade.
