War against Gaza: Former French Prime Minister de Villepin denounces “biggest historical scandal”

Former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin condemned the continued “silence” surrounding Israel’s war against Gaza and criticized the French government’s “retreat” from the conflict in a radio interview with France Inter on Thursday.

When asked to comment on the appointment of Michel Barnier as Prime Minister and the political and economic challenges facing France, de Villepin expressed his anger at France's political and media reaction to the Israeli war on Gaza at the end of the interview.

When the journalist brought up the conflict and cited the death toll reported by the “Hamas Health Ministry,” de Villepin quickly interrupted her.

“I hear that all the time… It's not just the Hamas Health Ministry that says there are 40,000 dead; it's probably much more. We don't want to give the impression that this is an abbreviated number,” he said.

Visibly annoyed, he continued: “No, unfortunately this is everyday reality. In Gaza, bodies are in pieces, hearts in pieces, souls in pieces, heads in pieces.”

On Thursday, Palestinian authorities announced that 41,118 people had been killed and another 95,125 injured in Gaza since the war began almost a year ago.

De Villepin said there seemed to be “no prospect” of reconstruction on the horizon. “Israel is creating the conditions for a renewed occupation [of Gaza]”, he said.

“In Gaza, bodies are in pieces, hearts are in pieces, souls are in pieces, heads are in pieces.”

– Dominique de Villepin, former French Prime Minister

“Whether in the southern line or in the line that cuts [the enclave] A restricted area has been set up in the middle, Israel has retaken possession of Gaza. Gaza is under complete siege.”

De Villepin warned: “At a time when the West Bank itself is collapsing, as we see in the north as well as the south, we are facing a veritable pressure cooker.”

The former centre-right prime minister, who served under Jacques Chirac from 2005 to 2007, further described Gaza as “undoubtedly the biggest historical scandal that no one in this country talks about anymore”.

“There is silence, a weight of lead; the media is not discussing it… I have to use Google to find news that tells me the death toll in Gaza. It is a real scandal in terms of democracy,” he said.

“And all this in the name of what? War. It is war, that's what it is. But it is not a war like the others. It is about the civilian population that is dying. We are in an absurd situation and France is withdrawing.”

Truly extraordinarily impressive interview with Dominique de Villepin, former Prime Minister of France, about Gaza.

I cannot stress enough how rare it is to hear a former French Prime Minister speak like this.

He says France “no longer has a voice on the international stage” because (among other things… pic.twitter.com/JFr7ZBCcHf

— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) 13 September 2024

Asked what France, the European Union or the United States should do, de Villepin pointed out that the West has “leverage in terms of armaments and the economy.” He said: “We continue to accept trade with territories where Israeli colonization is active… but we refuse to [use these levers] using absolutely outrageous arguments.”

“Must Israel be allowed to fight its war to the end?” he asked. “But to what end? Yoav Gallant, Israel's defense minister, says Hamas has been wiped out in Gaza. So what is the end?”

“This hatred does not surprise me”

De Villepin is known for his speech to the UN Security Council in February 2003, in which he expressed France's opposition to allied military intervention in Iraq as Foreign Minister. He has long been a vocal critic of Israel's policy in the Palestinian territories.

Following the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, in which around 1,200 people were killed and about 250 captured, de Villepin said he was “not surprised by this hatred”.

“Israel cannot be secure until a Palestinian state is recognized alongside Israel, sharing responsibility for security in this region.”

– Dominique de Villepin

“I am surprised by the scale, horror and barbarism expressed on October 7. This calls on all of us to act with humanity and solidarity towards Israel and the Israeli people,” he said at the time.

“But I have to say it, and I say it with infinite sadness: I am not surprised by the hatred that has been expressed. When we remember Gaza – since 2006, the wars of 2008, 2012, 2014 and in 2021 – when we remember this open-air prison, this pressure cooker, [it is no surprise] that such a situation could bring about hell on earth.”

In the tradition of former President Charles de Gaulle, who predicted in November 1967, after Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories, that it would establish “an occupation which would inevitably bring with it oppression, repression and expulsions, and a resistance to this occupation. [that] Israel, in turn [would] De Villepin stressed that Israel could not continue to act “as long as there is no Palestinian state alongside Israel that shares responsibility for security in the region” and classified the attack as terrorism.

Although current French President Emmanuel Macron has repeatedly called for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and condemned attacks on civilians, these statements do not appear to have translated into effective action or led to France using the means at its disposal to put pressure on Israel.

When asked in June about the possibility of France recognizing the State of Palestine, following the example of several European countries such as Spain, Norway and Ireland, Macron replied that this was not “the right solution.”

“It is not reasonable to do this now. I condemn the atrocities we are seeing with the same indignation as the French people. But we do not recognise a state based on indignation,” he added.

Human rights groups and investigative media also criticize the lack of transparency surrounding French arms sales to Israel.

Last week, an article by the French media outlet Mediapart focused on “the millions of euros of French weapons supplied to Israel.”

According to a Defense Ministry report to Parliament seen by Mediapart, France delivered military equipment worth 30 million euros (33 million dollars) to Israel in 2023.

However, since the report does not specify months, the newspaper noted that it is impossible to determine whether these deliveries continued after the start of the Israeli offensive on Gaza on October 7. The Defense Ministry was unable to clarify this question.

Meanwhile, activists in the country have condemned the increasing suppression of pro-Palestinian voices since October 7. Hundreds of investigations have been launched into comments about the Israel-Palestine conflict under the so-called “terrorism excuse” offense.