Appointed as France foreign affairs minister on Januay 11, Stéphane Séjourné, a former MEP, has made a series of visits to Ukraine and around the Middle East in recent weeks. Faced with the "existential" threat posed by Russia, he explained French President Emmanuel Macron's recent proposal to reinforce the West's presence in Ukraine. Nearly five months after the start of the war in Gaza, he also expressed that he considers it "urgent" to achieve a "lasting ceasefire," and deemed Israel's blocking of food aid to Palestinians "unjustifiable."
The humanitarian situation in Gaza has been catastrophic for several weeks, if not several months. And this is creating indefensible and unjustifiable situations for which the Israelis are accountable; Israel needs to hear this. Our efforts with the Israeli authorities to increase the number of crossing points and humanitarian trucks have gone unanswered. Starvation is adding to the horror. People are attacking the few convoys that do get through; the responsibility for blocking this aid clearly lies with Israeli. Just as we were very clear after the attacks on October 7 [2023] about Israel's right to defend itself, we must be clear about the abuses in Gaza.
The matter has been referred to the International Court of Justice [ICJ] and the International Criminal Court. As far as genocide is concerned, I don't want the word to be used politically, particularly by opposition [parties in France], because there's a question of intentionality which is up to international justice to determine. I want to put an end to this idea of double standards that we hear from a certain number of countries. Just look at our votes at the United Nations, our humanitarian mobilization...
No, and our role is to say so publicly. What the ICJ has called for corresponds to what the French government was calling for even before this decision. We are also saying as much to the Israeli government. Today, we're at an impasse on Rafah, and a military operation of the kind the Israelis have in mind would be a new humanitarian disaster; we're doing everything we can to avoid it.
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