French lawmaker Aymeric Caron said a controversial bill introduced by MP Caroline Yadan is intended to criminalize criticism of Israel and silence those speaking out against Israel’s war on Gaza.
In an interview with Anadolu, Caron, a lawmaker from the Revolution ecologique pour le vivant (REV) movement, said he is “totally opposed” to the proposal, arguing that despite its different provisions, it serves one political objective.
“This bill has only one real purpose: to criminalize any speech critical of Israel,” he said.
The proposed legislation, officially titled a bill to combat “new forms of antisemitism,” seeks to broaden several criminal offenses related to speech deemed hostile amid growing tensions in France over the war in Gaza.
Caron said the initiative is part of a wider political campaign targeting people who have denounced what he described as the genocide in Gaza over the past two and a half years.
“For all this time, these voices have been accused of antisemitism simply because they criticized Israeli crimes,” he said.
From criticism of Israel to antisemitism
Caron argued that the bill introduces what he described as a dangerous shift in French law by treating criticism of Israel as a form of antisemitism.
“Since there are no antisemitic remarks, they are now trying to claim that criticizing the State of Israel is antisemitic,” he said.
According to him, the bill is designed to secure convictions against those mobilizing in defense of international law and Palestinian rights.
While stressing that combating antisemitism is necessary, Caron said the proposed legislation has little to do with that objective.
“There is a need to fight antisemitism, just as there is a need to fight all forms of racism,” he said. “But there is total hypocrisy surrounding this law.”
“In concrete terms, this text is not about fighting antisemitism,” he added.
He was particularly critical of attempts to equate anti-Zionism with antisemitism.
“Those who try to equate criticism of Israel with antisemitism are confusing a government with all Jews around the world,” he said, calling such reasoning “a total heresy.”
Caron said many Jews oppose the policies of the Israeli government and warned that linking them collectively to those policies is both unfair and dangerous.
“It is extremely dangerous for Jews themselves,” he said.
He added that such arguments could ultimately fuel, rather than combat, antisemitism.
“It is precisely this kind of position that feeds antisemitism,” he said.
Fight against antisemitism ‘being instrumentalized’
Caron also accused Yadan and her supporters of exploiting the issue of antisemitism for political purposes.
“It is absolutely scandalous that Caroline Yadan and others are instrumentalizing the indispensable fight against antisemitism,” he said.
He accused supporters of the bill of exploiting “the tragedy of the Holocaust” in the service of what he described as a racist and supremacist political project.
The Yadan bill, introduced on Nov. 19, 2024, by Renaissance lawmaker Caroline Yadan, was approved by the National Assembly’s law committee in January and is set to be debated in parliament from April 16.
The text seeks to address what its authors describe as “new forms of antisemitism.”
Among other measures, it would broaden the offense of glorifying terrorism, introduce new crimes related to questioning or denying the existence of a state, and expand the definition of incitement to hatred to include indirect or “implicit” forms.
The proposal has triggered sharp criticism from human rights groups, unions, and legal experts, who say the bill is too vague and could undermine freedom of expression.
Critics warn that it risks blurring the distinction between criticism of Israeli government policies and antisemitism while discouraging activism linked to the Palestinian cause.
Several groups, including Jewish organizations critical of Israel, have also warned that the proposal could weaken the fight against antisemitism by turning it into a political tool.
*Writing by Tarek Chouiref
