France’s La France Insoumise (LFI) urged President Emmanuel
Macron to expel Israel’s ambassador after the Global Sumud Flotilla attack,
fueling tensions.
LFI parliamentary leader Mathilde Panot "solemnly called on Emmanuel Macron to expel the Israeli ambassador to France" in an interview with channel RTL.
Panot emphasized that the Israeli ambassador "has no place" in France any longer and that it is "not acceptable" to have the envoy of a state that is "committing genocide."
“It is no longer acceptable to allow on our soil a representative of a state that has, on three occasions, illegally kidnapped a legitimate mission,”
she said.
France "is doing absolutely nothing" to safeguard the flotilla, Panot added.
Over 450 activists from more than 50 countries were arrested by Israeli naval troops on Thursday and Friday after they attacked and took control of ships belonging to the Global Sumud Flotilla. In addition to challenging Israel's siege of the enclave, the flotilla had been trying to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza.
The flotilla is a worldwide effort to lift Israel's nearly 18-year-old blockade on Gaza, which is home to approximately 2.4 million Palestinians.
The enclave has become uninhabitable and almost 66,300 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been murdered by Israeli shelling since October 2023.
How might expulsion affect France-Israel trade and security relations?
France is an important member of the European Union, the
biggest trading partner of Israel. Trading is enabled by the EU-Israel
Association Agreement, which leads to preferential trade worth billions of
euros each year.
Such a diplomatic engagement by France could spur calls in the EU to reconsider or suspend various elements of the EU-Israel trade agreement, and potentially impact tariffs, market access, and cooperation in important sectors such as technology industries and manufacturing.
France has previously demonstrated interest in calling for a review of EU-Israel trade relations for humanitarian purposes, which could take into account an ambassador expulsion.