Macron says French nationals fighting for Israel in Gaza can't be ‘genociders’
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday that French-Israeli nationals are “children of France” who should never be accused of being perpetrators of genocide.
Speaking to Radio J, a French station covering Jewish community affairs, Macron said the fight against antisemitism is a fight of the republic.
“We cannot accept, we must never accept that any of our children, that any French person, be accused of being genocidal,” Macron said.
“That is impossible, and it represents a reversal of values to which we must not yield.”
The president also said: "Some people who sometimes played an active role in the anti-racist struggle, people who defended causes, have used, distorted what is happening internationally to try to dehumanise, essentialise fellow Jewish citizens."
He was seemingly referring to pro-Palestinian activists and leftist political figures in France, as the French National Assembly Law Committee adopted a controversial bill last month aimed at combating “renewed forms of antisemitism” that has been accused of trying to criminalise criticism of Israel.
Francesca Albanese, United Nations special rapporteur on Palestine, criticised Macron's statements in a post on X.
"We do not label someone a criminal or a genocidaire based on their nationality: it is up to the courts to decide," she wrote.
"Any person who has served in an army suspected of committing crimes can be subject to an investigation and, if the facts are established, can be prosecuted, tried and convicted."
Complicity in genocide
Macron’s comments come as French authorities on 3 February issued warrants for two Franco-Israeli nationals for "complicity in genocide" over accusations that they tried to stop humanitarian aid from entering the besieged Gaza Strip during Israel’s genocide.
The warrants require the Franco-Israeli nationals to appear before an investigating magistrate but do not call for their arrest.
The women, born in France and now living in Israel, are Nili Kupfer-Naouri, who leads the organisation Israel Is Forever, and Rachel Touitou, an activist linked to far-right group Tsav 9.
The warrants follow complaints filed last year by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights and the rights groups Al-Haq and Al-Mezan, which urged French authorities to act against dual nationals who played a direct role in obstructing assistance to Gaza between 2023 and 2025.
In June 2024, the US Department of State designated Tzav 9 a “violent extremist Israeli group that has been blocking, harassing and damaging convoys carrying lifesaving humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians in Gaza”.
Both activists defended themselves by saying that they were peacefully protesting at the border.
According to AFP, another source close to the investigation said warrants could be issued for about 10 other people.
In July, a group of NGOs also filed another legal complaint against two French-Israeli soldiers, seeking a judicial investigation against them for "war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide", Le Monde reported.
The two soldiers, named Sasha A and Gabriel B H, are accused of killing several dozen unarmed Palestinian civilians outside combat areas in 2023 and 2024.
While the mandatory military service law in Israel exempts dual nationals residing abroad, according to the Israeli military data, more than 6,100 soldiers of French nationality voluntarily served in the army during the genocide.