France suspends Gaza evacuation program after it admits student accused of sharing antisemitic posts
‘Hamas propagandists have no place in our country,’ said French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau
France’s Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noel Barrot visits the Mount of Olives, overlooking Jerusalem’s Old City and the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Nov. 7, 2024. Photo by Menahem Kahana / AFP via Getty Images
(JTA) — France is suspending its effort to evacuate some Gazans after a woman who came to the country through the program was accused of making antisemitic comments online.
Nour Attaalah, 25, arrived in France on July 11 after getting a scholarship to attend the elite Sciences Po Lille university in the fall. She had her admission rescinded last week after it came to light that she had shared posts praising Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and appearing to call for the death of Jews. One included a picture of Adolf Hitler.
The posts were initially shared by pro-Israel X accounts, the Jerusalem Post reported. Agence France-Presse said it was unable to confirm the screenshots attributed to her, but Sciences Po Lille said Wednesday that her social media comments had been confirmed, without elaborating.
“The content of these publications is in direct contradiction with the values upheld by Sciences Po Lille, which fights against all forms of racism, antisemitism, and discrimination, as well as against any type of call to hatred, against any population whatsoever,” wrote Sciences Po Lille in a post on X.
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said on X that he had asked for potential criminal charges, adding, “Hamas propagandists have no place in our country.”
The evacuation program has aided over 500 Palestinians fleeing Gaza since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel, and will be on pause while authorities investigate the Palestinian student and how she was offered entry despite her social media posts, according to French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot.
“A Gazan student making antisemitic remarks has no place in France,” wrote Barrot in a post on X last Tuesday. “The screenings carried out by the competent services of the relevant ministries have clearly not worked. I have requested that an internal investigation be conducted to ensure this cannot happen again under any circumstances.”
The freeze on the evacuation program comes weeks after President Emmanuel Macron announced that France will unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations’ General Assembly in September.
On Sunday, Attaalah left France for Qatar, according to a statement by the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs.
