French lawmaker needs over 600 signatures to urge government to stop selling Israel arms

By Esra Taskin

PARIS (AA) – The French lawmaker needs just over 600 more signatures to complete his online campaign, in which he asks President Emmanuel Macron's government to halt arms sales to Israel.

As of Friday, 34,327 people had signed the online petition launched by Thomas Portes, a lawmaker from the La France Insoumise or France Unbowed (LFI) party, on February 14 to urge the French government to halt arms sales to Israel.

The campaign is still active on change.org and requires less than 700 more signatures to be successful.

However, it is unclear what steps the French lawmaker will take after collecting 35,000 signatures.

According to the Defense Ministry's July 2023 report to Parliament, France has issued 767 export licenses for Israel since 2015.

In addition, France sells an average of €20 million (nearly $22 million) worth of military equipment to Israel every year.

The value of military equipment shipped from France to Israel in 2013-2022 amounted to €207.6 million.

Furthermore, Paris issued export licenses for Israel in 2014-2022 with a total value of €2.5 billion.

Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.

Nearly 39,500 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 91,000 injured, according to local health authorities.

Almost 10 months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Merve Berker