French opposition lawmaker calls for deportation of Israeli ambassador amid press freedom dispute

By Esra Taskin

PARIS ( AA) - French opposition lawmaker Thomas Portes has called for the deportation of Israel's Paris Ambassador Alona Fisher-Kamm, whom he accused of attacking press freedom to "stifle the genocide in Gaza."

After the French newspaper Liberation featured the headline "30,000 dead in Gaza" on its front page on Thursday, the Israeli Embassy in Paris, on its X account, accused the French newspaper of acting as a "mouthpiece" for Hamas.

The embassy criticized Liberation's headline as anti-Israel propaganda and questioned the accuracy of the death toll provided by the newspaper.

Expressing regret over the use of the term "a massacre of Gaza children" by the newspaper, the embassy highlighted that such phrasing conveyed the message that Israel deliberately targeted the most vulnerable civilians.

Citing the embassy's statement, Portes, a lawmaker from the La France Insoumise (LFI - France Unbowed) party, said: "This morning, the Israeli embassy attacks press freedom to stifle the genocide organized by the Israeli army."

"France cannot tolerate this. Diplomatic relations must be immediately severed, and the Israeli ambassador must be expelled from our soil without delay," Portes said on X.