115 lawmakers ask French president to halt arms sale to Israel

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

GENEVA (AA) - A total of 115 French opposition lawmakers asked President Emanuel Macron on Friday to halt arms sales to Israel to avoid being "complicit in genocide" in the Gaza Strip.

The joint letter sent to Macron was shared on X by left-wing lawmaker and deputy group leader of the La France Insoumise party, Mathilde Panot.

"Because France must not, cannot, and will not break international law, 115 members of parliament expressly call on the President of the Republic to immediately halt the sale of arms to Israel," said Panor. "France's role is to promote peace, not to be complicit in genocide.”

The lawmakers said in the letter that even arms sales "deemed purely defensive" should be halted to Tel Aviv.

“It seems important to remember that similar measures have already been taken by other countries, such as Canada, the Netherlands and Spain," they said. "It is time for France to rise to the historic moment. “

Flouting the International Court of Justice (ICJ) provisional ruling, Israel continues its onslaught on the Gaza Strip where at least 33,091 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and 75,750 injured since Oct. 7, 2023, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas, which Tel Aviv said killed less than 1,200 people.

The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85% of the territory's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the ICJ. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.