PONTOISE: French Jewish groups and Israeli officials protested Tuesday after the mayor of a Paris suburb renamed a street to honor the thousands of Palestinians forced from their homes during Israel’s creation in 1948.
Dominique Lesparre, the Communist mayor of Bezons, on Monday officially renamed a street near city hall “Allee de la Nakba” (Nakba Lane) to commemorate the Nakba, or “catastrophe,” when more than 760,000 Palestinians were expelled by Israeli forces or fled 70 years ago.
Plaques in French and Arabic read: “In memory of the expulsion of 800,000 Palestinians and the destruction of 532 villages in 1948 by the war criminal David Ben Gurion for the creation of the state of Israel,” referring to the country’s first prime minister.
Police sources told AFP the plaques had been covered with graffiti by Tuesday morning.
The city later removed the plaques after a request by the top central government official for the Val-d’Oise region, who said they could “seriously disrupt public order.”
The CRIF umbrella group of French Jewish associations had also demanded the plaques be taken down, saying they “encourage the current acts of anti-Semitic violence by trying to give them historic justification.”
“The first Hamas city hall in France,” Emmanuel Nahshon, spokesman for the Israeli foreign ministry, posted in French on Twitter, in reference to the Islamist party governing Gaza.
It was not the first time Bezons has courted controversy with its support of the Palestinian cause.
In 2014 the town was ordered to remove a commemorative plaque for Majdi Al-Rimawi, a Palestinian sentenced to 80 years in prison for the 2001 killing of an Israeli government minister at a Jerusalem hotel.
In a statement, Israel’s ambassador to France Aliza Bin-Noun accused the mayor of supporting “Palestinian terrorism and inciting hate.”
“These provocations are unacceptable given that Israel and France share a strong and sincere friendship, cemented by shared democratic values,” the embassy said.
France has been rocked by a number of attacks on Jews in recent years, pointing to the emergence of a virulent strain of anti-Semitism in some neighborhoods with predominantly Muslim immigrants.
Jewish groups protest after French town renames street ‘Nakba’
Jewish groups protest after French town renames street ‘Nakba’
- Dominique Lesparre, the Communist mayor of Bezons, on Monday officially renamed a street near city hall “Allee de la Nakba” (Nakba Lane) to commemorate the Nakba.
- The city later removed the plaques after a request by the top central government official for the Val-d’Oise region, who said they could “seriously disrupt public order.”
Greece warns shipping fleet of risks after Black Sea drone attacks
- Greek-operated ships are among the world’s largest fleets of tankers and are pivotal for trade across the Black Sea region
- War insurance costs for ships sailing to the Black Sea have jumped this week
ATHENS: Greece has warned its shipping fleet to review their security measures when sailing to Russian Black Sea ports after drone attacks on two Greek-operated tankers this week, according to shipping ministry adviseries.
Drones struck two oil tankers on Tuesday, including one chartered by US oil major Chevron, as they sailed toward a Black Sea terminal on Russia’s Black Sea coast.
Greek-operated ships are among the world’s largest fleets of tankers and are pivotal for trade across the Black Sea region, whose waters are shared by Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania and Turkiye, as well as warring Russia and Ukraine.
“It is recommended that the security managers of shipping companies, the masters and the security officers of Greek ships proceed with an updated threat assessment for commercial ships located in the Black Sea and the maritime areas close to it,” the shipping ministry said in one of the documents seen by Reuters that were issued after the attacks.
War insurance costs for ships sailing to the Black Sea have jumped this week, reflecting the worsening risk environment.
One of the tankers targeted on Tuesday was Matilda, which was managed by Greece’s Thenamaris and hit by two drones.
While there were no injuries or serious damage to the vessel, a Thenamaris official said that the company had since then stepped up additional precautionary security measures and advised crew on their vessels to increase vigilance and avoid unnecessary exposure, mainly movement on the deck.
The ministry referred shipping companies to an earlier document published in April 2022 that recommended that additional protective security measures be maintained for a certain period as a result of increased risk for the Russian Black Sea ports of Novorossiysk, Taman, Tuapse and Kavkaz.
