Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs (JCFA)

Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste (NPA) 

In English: The New Anti-Capitalist Party

http://www.npa2009.org

Orientation: Western far-left

Fields of operation: “direct action,” BDS promoting

This is a far-left, extremely anti-capitalist and anti-Israeli party, founded in 2009 by former Communist activists. The NPA plays a key role in French BDS initiatives, and its flags carrying the Party’s logo appear a lot in demonstrations against Israel.²¹⁹  The NPA cooperates in demonstrations with CBSP and with CAPJPO-EuroPalestine.²²⁰

Main figures in the Party are:

Olivier Besancenot, the chief spokesman of the party and its driving force,²²¹ in 2009 he visited the West Bank together with delegates from the party and met with Omar Barghouti and representatives of BDS in Ramallah.²²²

Julien Salingue, an NPA activist, holds a PhD in political science and was among the protesters against “Tel-Aviv on the Seine.”²²³

L’Association France Palestine Solidarité (AFPS) 

http://www.france-palestine.org

Orientation: Western far-left

Fields of operation: “direct action,” BDS promoting

AFPS is a French political NGO that promotes anti-­Israel narratives, such as accusations of Apartheid, discrimination, and massacres of Palestinians. AFPS promotes BDS and a Palestinian right of return. It also mobilizes local branches for activities and demonstrations against Israel. AFPS organizes several events in cooperation with Palestinian and Israeli NGOs that promote BDS and take part in the Israel Delegitimization Campaign. These partners include: Adalah, Addameer, Alternative Information Center (AIC), Al­Mezan, Badil, Breaking the Silence, Combatants for Peace, Hamoked, Health Work Committees, Jewish Voice for Peace, Ma’an Development Center, Machsom Watch, Miftah, Mossawa, Palestine Monitor, Palestine Center for Human Rights, Palestinian Medical Relief Society, Physicians for Human Rights – Israel, Public Committee Against Torture, ICHAD, PNGO, and Zochrot. These NGOs advance political warfare and legal attacks against Israel. Many rely on substantial, direct, or indirect funding by France and the European Union. In cooperation with the Belgian association Intal, AFPS participated in a Dexia shareholder protest that supported Dexia’s divestment from Israeli companies.²²⁴

According to the AFPS website, it has about 4,900 members, supporters, and organizers, and more than a hundred regional groups throughout France.²²⁵ The AFPS was among the organizations which acted against the “Tel-Aviv on the Seine” happening in August 2015.²²⁶ The AFPS cooperated with CAPJPO-EuroPalestine in anti-Israel demonstrations.²²⁷ It also acted to promote flotillas to Gaza.²²⁸  

Taoufiq Tahani, AFPS’s President, is a Palestinian-born lecturer in a French university.²²⁹ In 2013, during an interview to the media, he said that French textbooks had been examined and were found not to include the subject of the nakba and “the expulsion of the Palestinians,” and added he was working to bring this subject into public awareness in France.²³⁰

CAPJPO-EuroPalestine (Coordination des appels pour une paix juste au Proche-Orient) 

In English: the Committee for Coordinating Action for a Just Peace in the Middle East

www.europalestine.com

Orientation: Western far-left, pro-Islamist

Fields of operation: “direct action,” BDS promoting

CAPJPO-EuroPalestine is a French far-left organization founded in 2002, which supports the academic boycott and BDS, and organizes demonstrations and BDS tours in France. According to Israeli sources, EuroPalestine is also a member organization of the Muslim Brotherhood-led International Campaign to End the Siege in Gaza (ICESG).²³¹ CAPJPO-EuroPalestine is headed by Olivia Zemor, a French far-left Jewish activist who was among the organizers of the delegitimization flight to Ben-Gurion Airport in April 2012, called “Welcome to Palestine 2012,” during which activists landing at the airport made anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian exclamations. Both Zemor and her husband, Nicolas Shahshahani, are journalists. Nicolas Shahshahani was born in the United States to an Iranian Shiite father and a Jewish mother.²³² For many years, Zemor worked for the French News Agency, and in 2002 the couple started to act for the Palestinian cause, forming CAPJPO together with other Jewish anti-Zionists. In 2004, she cooperated with the anti-Semitic black comedian Dieudonne in founding Europalestine, which participated in the elections to the European Union. Dieudonne later left Europalestine under the chairmanship of Zemor. It should be noted that CAPJPO-EuroPalestine supports, at least officially, the two-state solution.²³³

CAPJPO-EuroPalestine was central to three attempts to send thousands of activists simultaneously to Israel via Ben-Gurion Airport (July 2011, April 2012) and the Allenby Bridge (August 2012). These events, intended as anti-Israel media provocations at the border checkpoints, did not have the impact expected by the organizers. The Allenby Bridge event completely failed and had no media coverage whatsoever. During 2012, CAPJPO-EuroPalestine sent an aid delegation numbering 100 activists to Gaza. It was received by Hamas officials, performed a show of defiance near the border (low profile and no provocations), and promised to promote Hamas’s propaganda messages aimed at French public opinion and and international legal forums. Other members of the delegation were from other delegitimization organizations, among them nine activists of Freedom Flotilla Italia, which is involved in the project of sending flotillas to Gaza. These activists met in Gaza with senior members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and representatives of other terrorist groups. A further indication of the affinity between CAPJPO-EuroPalestine and elements in the PFLP can be found on its website, which reported a meeting on December 8, 2012 between about 100 pro-Palestinian activists of Toulouse and a senior personality of the PFLP. Far-left elements, which had organized the meeting, thanked the organization for supporting the meeting. It is also worth noting that the organization’s website reviewed widely the Salah Hamouri affair, supported him, and called for his release.²³⁴   Hamouri, a PFLP activist from east Jerusalem carrying French citizenship, planned to murder the late Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yossef. He was eventually released in the Shalit deal.

A demonstration of EuroPalestine activists in Paris under the auspices of BDS, in a mall at the Montparnasse quarter on March 20, 2010 against the Swedish company H&M which has stores in Israel. The demonstrators shouted “Long live the Terror,” “Long live the phosphorus bombs” (allegedly dropped on Gaza by the Israelis), and “Long live the occupation,” and broke into the shop. A large number of them were Muslims.²³⁷

Another demonstration in Paris by EuroPalestine activists on March 7, 2009, during which BDS activists broke into a supermarket and loaded carts with Israeli products. This mode of action is a blatant violation of the right of property, so they can be legally prosecuted.²³⁸

In March 2016, EuroPalestine activists participated in a demonstration in support of a pro-BDS activist who had been arrested. Among the signboards raised and slogans heard during the demonstration was the call to “separate between CRIF and the state.” CRIF (Conseil Représentatif des Institutions Juives de France) is the umbrella for Jewish organizations in France established in 1945, and this slogan implies the possible power it has over the state.²³⁹

Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l’amitié entre les peoples (MRAP) 

In English: Movement Against Racism and for Friendship between Peoples

http://www.mrap.fr

Orientation: Western far-left

Fields of operation: “direct action,” BDS promoting

This far-left movement was founded in 1949 but was re-designed in 2007. The movement deals with human rights around the world, and works against globalization, anti-Semitism, and racism. However it has also been involved in BDS, which it sees as part of efforts to bring about a just and lasting peace.²⁴⁰   It also promoted a flotilla to Gaza.²⁴¹

The leadership, since 2012, includes: Dominique Deltour, Bernadette Hétier, Renée le Mignot, and Pierre Mairat.²⁴²All four carry the titles of joint chairman. Pierre Mairat acts as the attorney of MRAP, Renée le Mignot is in charge of international relations, Bernadette Hétier is joint chairperson, and Dominique Deltour is also joint chairperson.

Renée le Mignot, an MRAP activist who participated in promoting a flotilla to Gaza.²⁴⁵

Christian Masson, director of the local committee in Nice, talking about the campaign in Nice against “Tel Aviv on the Seine.”²⁴⁶ MRAP took part in these activities under the title “Gaza sur Prom.”²⁴⁷

l’Union Juive Française pour la Paix (UJFP) 

http://www.ujfp.org

Orientation: Jewish far-left

Fields of operation: “direct action,” BDS promoting

UJPF is a Jewish far-left organization with about 300 members throughout France. It fights “against racism and discriminations” and among various activities also promotes BDS. It was founded in 1994 and is part of the far-left Jewish European federation European Jewish Network for a Just Peace (EJJP). It is signatory on the EJJP’s December 2014 declaration that called “for the recognition of the State of Palestine and for strong measures against Israel until it ends the occupation of Palestinian land., These include urging the European Union to suspend the EU/Israel Association Agreement until Israel complies with UN resolutions and international law, stopping all forms of military and security cooperation, and promoting BDS throughout the world.²⁴⁸ The UJFP’s joint president and driving force is Pierre Stambul.²⁴⁹ Another prominent figure is Michèle Sibony, a feminist, anti-colonialist activist.

Toward the Palestine-focused World Social Forum (WSF) in Puerto Alegre in November 2012 and the WSF in Tunis in March 2013, the UJFP held a workshop in cooperation with several French-Arab organizations and the Israeli far-left Alternative Information Center (AIC), which dealt, among other things, with the challenge of “rebuilding an Arab-Judeo perspective” in Western societies and the Arab world. Michèle Sibony, who wrote about the workshop, said that the world today had been redrawn by American neo-Conservatism, whereas the Middle East became the new front line, and Islam took the place of Communism as the global civilizational enemy. The separation wall in Palestine replaces the Berlin wall in this division of the world, and anti-Semitism, the question of veiling of women etc. are used as ideological weapons in this war.²⁵⁰

Just before the end of 2017, UJFP issued a series of 10 clips, directed by the controversial Israeli filmmaker Eyal Sivan, in which activists of the organization are interviewed and aim to demonstrate that opposing racism is a Jewish theme that should also include the criticism of Israeli policies.²⁵¹

La Plateforme des ONG Françaises pour la Palestine 

http://www.plateforme-palestine.org

Orientation: Western far-left, pro-Islamist, Christian

Fields of operation: “direct action,” BDS promoting

La Plateforme des ONG Françaises pour la Palestine is an umbrella body of pro-Palestinian organizations in France, which was created in 1993 in the wake of the Oslo agreements. It brings under its wings 40 member associations (28 of which are full members and the rest are observers) from far-left to religious backgrounds (both Christian and Islamist). All of these found common ground on the Platforme’s charter, which asserted the “mutual recognition of Palestinian and Israeli states, the full implementation of the rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination, and the implementation of UN resolutions 242 and 338, as well as a fair solution to the refugees issue, based on international law.”²⁵³

The Platforme lobbies members of the European Parliament to impose sanctions on Israel. It offers resources for advancing an anti-Israeli agenda and engages in BDS campaigns. Among the Platforme’s members are: FIDH and CCFD-­Terre Solidaire and Catholic organizations involved in the delegitimization campaign – Pax Christi­ France, Secours Catholique, and Caritas France. Another member is the Comité de Bienfaisence et de Secours aux Palestiniens (CBSP).²⁵⁴

In December 2017, the Platforme co-organized a symposium in the French Senate titled “Palestine: Does the Occupation Seriously Affect Health?,” which hosted, among others, prominent Israel delegitimization figure Mustafa Barghouti in his role as head of a medical NGO called Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS).²⁵⁵ The Platforme promoted a flotilla to Gaza in October 2010.²⁵⁶

Bernard Ravenel is a history professor at the l’Institut d’études politiques de Paris. Ravenel participated in the founding of the Socialist party (PSU) in 1960 and was later a member of the Communist Party – Parti Communiste Français. He is also one of the founders of the Comite pour le désarmement nucléaire en Europe – CODENE. Ravenel has been accused of anti-Semitism.²⁵⁸

Following is the list of member organizations of La Plateforme des ONG Françaises pour la Palestine.²⁵⁹

Collectif69 / Collectif 69 Palestine 

http://collectif69palestine.free.fr/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Collectif-69-de-Soutien-au-Peuple-Palestinien/116919255081238

https://twitter.com/palestine69

Orientation: Western far-left, pro-Islamist

Fields of operation: “direct action,” BDS

Collectif69 is an umbrella body based in Lyon and founded in 2003,²⁶⁰ and comprises pro-Palestinian organizations and far-left parties.  Among its members are MRAP, CAPJPO, GUPS, the Parti Communiste Français, et al. Collectif69 is active with the issue of removing the siege from Gaza²⁶¹ and also works for the release of Palestinian prisoners, among them Muhammad Allan, the hunger-striking activist of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). It supported Salah Hamouri, who was released in the Shalit deal.²⁶² Associate organizations are CBSP, EuroPalestine, UJFP and Tadamun.²⁶³ The president²⁶⁴  and the driving force of the Collectif is the far-left journalist²⁶⁵  Jérôme Faynel, active in the Green Party (des Verts du Rhône),²⁶⁶  who also promoted a flotilla to Gaza in 2011.²⁶⁷

List of the member organizations of Collectif69 and signatories of its 2013 treaty²⁶⁸

• AFAK Bethléem
• AFPS (Association France Palestine Solidarité)
• Agir à la Mulatière
• Alternatifs (les)
• ATTAC Rhône
• ATTAC Villefranche
• CAPJPO-Europalestine
• CCIPPP (Campagne Civile Internationale de Protection du Peuple Palestinien)
• CFDT commerces et services
• C.N.T Interco du Rhône
• Entr’Cultures
• Femmes en Noir
• Gauche Unitaire
• GREF (Groupement des Retraités Educateurs sans Frontières)
• GUPS (Union Générale des Etudiants Palestiniens)
• Initiatives Citoyennes
• Le PHILISTIN
• LDH (Ligue des Droits de l’Homme)
• MRAP (Mouvement contre le Racisme et pour l’Amitié entre les Peuples)
• MJCF (Mouvement des Jeunesses Communistes de France)
• Mouvement de la Paix
• OXFAM Lyon
• PCF-Rhône (Parti Communiste Français)
• Parti de Gauche
• PIR (Parti des indigènes de la république)
• NPA (Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste)
• Solidaires Rhône Sud
• Union Départementale CFDT
• Union Départementale CGT
• UJFP (Union Juive Française pour la Paix)
• Europe Ecologie / Les Verts du Rhône

CCFD-Terre Solidaire 

http://ccfd-terresolidaire.org/

Orientation: Catholic, Western far-left

Fields of operation: BDS

CCFD-­Terre Solidaire is a French Catholic organization that purports to promote human rights and poverty reduction. CCFD-­Terre Solidaire collaborates with far-left Israeli NGOs such as Sadaka­Reut, Zochrot, Baladna, Association of Arab Youth, the Alternative Information Center (AIC), and ICAHD. In August 2014, CCFD­-Terre Solidaire published an appeal for the European Union and their member states to divest from all settlement activities. In July 2014, CCFD-Terre Solidaire published “European Measures against Israeli Occupation,” calling for settlement product labeling and divestment from business and other activities with Israeli entities beyond the 1949 Armistice Line. The document also urges the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs to endorse calls for divestment from settlement activities.²⁶⁹

French Association des Universitaires pour le Respect du Droit International en Palestine (AURDIP) 

http://www.aurdip.fr/

Orientation: Western far-left

Fields of operation: BDS, campus activism

AURDIP acts for an academic boycott of Israel.  Its driving force is Ivar Ekeland, who serves as the organization’s president.²⁷⁰ Ivar Ekeland is a French mathematician of Norwegian descent.

Confédération paysanne 

http://www.confederationpaysanne.fr/

Orientation: Western far-left

Fields of operation: BDS promoting, trade unions

The French Farmers’ Federation was founded in 1987 by two minority unions.²⁷¹ In most elections to the chambers of agriculture it won between 20-26 percent of the votes. The Federation has been supporting BDS since 2011.²⁷²

Confédération Nationale du Travail – CNT 

Orientation: Western far-left

Fields of operation: BDS promoting, trade unions

The National Confederation of Labour is a French anarcho-syndicalist union aligned with the General Confederation of Labour (CGT). In 2010, it joined the BDS Campaign, adding that this decision is “coherent with our solidarity with Palestine, defined by our statement of support of the Palestinian people’s struggle, adopted by the CNT during its 2006 congress,” and that, “It confirms our opposition to all forms of colonization and occupation, as well as our solidarity with the oppressed against the oppressor.”²⁷³