How a pro-Israel gala led to massive protests across Paris

Huge protests took place across multiple locations in Paris on Wednesday night against a pro-Israel gala, an event which was aimed at raising funds for the Israeli military.

The gathering, which invited Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich among its guests, drew massive flak. Near the Saint Lazare station, dozens of protesters, some waving Palestinian flags and lighting flares, took to the streets.

By around 8 pm, tensions escalated as police, prepared with shields and riot gear, moved against the crowd and seemed to deploy tear gas to disperse the protesters.

What led to the controversy?

Held just before a football match between Israel and France, the pro-Israel gala sparked controversy and intensified existing tensions.

In an open letter, several civil rights groups wrote, “Holding this gala in the French capital would constitute an insult to international law and contempt for the UN and for the orders issued by the highest international court,” referring to the rulings issued by the highest international court, International Court of Justice, that called on Israel to prevent acts of “genocide” in Gaza.

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Organised by the ‘Israel is Forever’ association, the gala aimed to celebrate the “power and history of Israel,” despite the country facing increased international backlash over its actions in Gaza.

The expected presence of Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a hard-line advocate of Israeli settlements, also drew sharp criticism from French associations, unions, and left-wing political groups, which then led to multiple protests.

However, after growing opposition, Smotrich’s office confirmed on Wednesday that he would not attend the event.

Smotrich’s stance, particularly his recent statement hoping a Trump re-election would allow Israeli annexation of the West Bank, has also led to further outrage. Such a move would eliminate the possibility of a Palestinian state.

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Notably, the French Foreign Ministry called Smotrich’s comments “contrary to international law” and damaging to efforts to reduce regional tensions.

“France reiterates its commitment to the implementation of the two-state solution, with Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security, which is the only prospect for a just and lasting settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” the ministry said in a statement.

‘Israel is Forever’: the association that organised the gala

The gala, titled “Israel is Forever,” was organised by an association of the same name, which states that its mission is to “mobilise French-speaking Zionist forces.” The group’s president, Nili Kupfer-Naouri, has also faced flak with controversial remarks dismissing the humanitarian impact of the Gaza conflict.

In an October 2023 interview with French media outlet CNews, Kupfer-Naouri said that no one in Gaza was “innocent.”

She said, “The civilian population put Hamas in power knowing full well what its programme was, that is to say, the extermination of Israel.”

“Go and see the Hamas demonstrations, where there are 1-year-old children dressed in Hamas colours.”

She added, “There is no innocent civilian population in Gaza.”

Earlier this year, Kupfer-Naouri faced allegations of blocking humanitarian aid trucks headed into Gaza and making anti-Arab remarks in an interview with Studio Qualita, France24 reported.

“We no longer want barbaric neighbours, we understand that we must obtain our security and this is through the mass emigration of Arabs from Gaza and a Jewish settlement,” she said.

The protest march

The protests in Paris were organised on the eve of France’s match against Israel. Authorities had announced the deployment of over 4,000 police officers and 1,600 stadium staff to manage security for the game at the national stadium.

Hundreds of protesters marched through central Paris, criticising the event as a “gala of hatred and shame.”

Melkir Saib, a 30-year-old protester, said, “Imagine if an association were hosting a gala for Hezbollah or Hamas — there’s no way the police would allow that…The situation is just unfair.”

Salim, a BDS activist, which is a movement that promotes boycotts, divestments, and economic sanctions against Israel, joined the protest to oppose the gala, describing it as inciting racial hatred.

“I’d call it ‘Horror Israel’ because they’re inviting people who have made comments that incite racial hatred and beyond that, that dehumanise, that is, to put it concretely, that compare Palestinians to animals,” he was quoted as saying by The Saudi Gazette.

The march remained largely peaceful, although some protesters broke windows at a McDonald’s along the route.

Jewish leftist groups, standing against racism and antisemitism, also gathered near the Arc de Triomphe to protest against the gala and Smotrich’s policies. Despite the protests, Paris police chief Laurent Nunez defended the event, stating it posed “no major threat to public order.”

These demonstrations come as Paris and Amsterdam face tensions related to West Asia. Recently, a “Free Palestine” banner appeared at a Paris Saint-Germain match, and violence broke out in Amsterdam targeting supporters of an Israeli soccer team.

🇫🇷 Chaos in Paris: Police use batons and tear gas in clashes with pro-P@lestinian protesters
who tried to break into a pro-Israel demonstration. https://t.co/uDC0oqhAxE

— Middle East Observer (@Mid7East) November 13, 2024

Ellen Groves, an Irish-British resident of Paris for 20 years, said she left her copywriting job to support Palestinians’ rights.

She said, “I just cannot believe we live in a world where we kill children every day for 14 months and that we would knowingly bomb a trapped population,” and called the war “a genocide of children in front of the world.”

French human rights groups condemned the gala in an open letter, calling it a “revolting gala” and “an insult to international law,” especially given the International Court of Justice’s stance on the conflict.

The ongoing Israel-Hamas war, which began after Hamas’s attacks on October 7 that killed 1,200 Israelis and took 250 hostages, has since led to over 43,000 deaths and 100,000 injuries in Gaza, with women and children accounting for about 70% of casualties, according to the UN.

Controversy over Smotrich is not new. At a previous gala in March 2023, he said that “there is no such thing as a Palestinian people,” a remark that was met with global condemnation.

US National Security Council said, “We utterly object to that kind of language,” while the Palestinian Authority called it “racist” and “an attempt to falsify history.”

With inputs from AP