Slap on the face of freedom of expression.. French parliament backs bill equates anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism

Paris (QNN)- The French parliament backed a resolution on Tuesday labelling anti-Zionism a form of antisemitism.

The motion was adopted with 154 votes against 72 at the French parliament.

It called on the government to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of anti-Semitism, which equates anti-Zionism to antisemitism and considers criticizing the occupation state as a type of antisemitism.

“Criticising the very existence of Israel as a collective composed of Jewish citizens is tantamount to hatred towards the Jewish community as a whole,” the resolution states.

Thee resolution was drafted by Sylvain Maillard, a Paris lawmaker from French President Emmanuel Macron’s La Republique en Marche (The Republic

on the Move) centrist party.

In February, a few days after an attack on Jewish French philosopher Alain Finkelkraut on the sidelines of a yellow vest protest in Paris, Macron said anti-Zionism was one of the modern forms of antisemitism and that he would accept the IHRA definition.

In an open letter published in French newspaper Le Monde, a group of 127 Jewish intellectuals started a petition against the bill earlier this week.

Calling on the French parliament not to adopt the bill, the group underlined the importance of the fight against anti-Semitism.

They said anti-Zionism was legitimate and that criticizing a state would not amount to anti-Semitism.

“For Palestinians, Zionism means dispossession, displacement, occupation and structural inequality,” the letter says.

“It is cynical and insensitive to stigmatise them as antisemites for opposing Zionism.

“They oppose Zionism not because they hate Jews, but because they experience Zionism as an oppressive political movement.”