Paris Suburb Honors Jailed Marwan Barghouti
Image by getty images
The municipality of a Parisian suburb honored Palestinian Fatah faction leader Marwan Barghouti, who is serving multiple life sentences in Israel for acts of terrorism against civilians.
The naming of Barghouti as honorary citizen of Aubervilliers on Dec. 22 came shortly before a French court ordered the nullification of an honor conferred by another Parisian suburb, Bezons, on another Palestinian, Majdi Irhima al-Rimawi, who assassinated Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi more than a decade earlier.
CRIF, the umbrella of France’s Jewish communities, on Dec. 24 wrote to Aubervilliers Mayor Pascal Beaudet, who was elected as representative of the Communist Party of France, to protest against the decision to honor Barghouti, which the city described in a statement as part of its commitment to support what it described as political prisoners, including Barghouti and the late president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela.
“Nelson Mandela, whom you have the audacity of referencing, was indeed a political activist sentenced to prison, but for his opinions – not his actions,” CRIF President Roger Cukierman wrote.
In September, another communist mayor of a municipality near Paris also honored Barghouti, by naming a street after him. Valenton Mayor Françoise Baud also named a square after Mandela on the same day.
The National Bureau for Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism, or BNVCA, is currently in a legal fight with Valenton over the dedication of Barghouti Alley, which BNVCA says constitutes incitement to violence at a time when the prevalence of anti-Semitic crimes is increasing.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
