French mayor brought to court for recommending the boycott of Israeli goods
_POSTEDON 2003-03-18 20:56:51 by
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NancyHawker _WRITES "On March 12, 2003, Mayor Jean-Claude Willem (French Communist Party) will appear in the high court in Lille following accusations of incitement to anti-Semitism on account of his campaign of protest against Israeli policies in the Palestinian territories. The accusations were filed by representatives of the Jewish community in northern France.
The matter came up in October 2002, when Willem recommended at a municipal council meeting that the school refectory catering service avoid purchasing Israeli products, “starting with fruit juices.” The mayor had visited a photo exhibition devoted to the Occupied Territories and in an effort to raise awareness about the Palestinian predicament, initiated a campaign to boycott Israeli products. He condemned the “crimes of the Israeli government and of its army”, notably in Jenin. “Some Israelis supported me,” he added.
The president of the Israelite Cultural Association in northern France, Jean-Claude Komar, wrote him a letter where he allegedly explained “this gesture [boycott] is not conducive to peace and penalizes Palestinians just as much since Palestinians supply for Israeli food industry, for example growing oranges.” Willem answered, writing that Israeli crimes in the territories were akin to genocide. “It was a gut reaction,” the Mayor explained himself later.
Komar and a colleague, Guy Bensoussan, then decided to file an official complaint against Willem, judging that his initiative would favour the rise of anti-semitism in the region. The Mayor of Seclin received convocation to court on January 7, 2003, for “provoking discrimination and hatred toward a person or group of persons on account of their origin, their affiliation to a particular ethnic, national, racial or religious group, specifically because of the request that catering services boycott Israeli products.”
Willem’s lawyer, Daniel Joseph, was surprised by the accusation. “This is the first time I have encountered a case that claims that economic boycott constitutes incitement to racial hatred. I do not see how that is possible. It is absurd.” He is defending Willem on the grounds that the petitioners’ complaints do not emanate from the country concerned. In fact, he is trying to establish a difference in principle between criticism of Israel and anti-Semitism, a difference that is blurred by Zionist propaganda and by anti-Semites themselves.
The Mayor of Seclin wants to turn his day in court into a political debate. He is inviting witnesses, including Israeli Jews, to testify to the crimes of the Occupation, and establish the legitimacy of public denunciation of Israeli policies. fax: +33 320 62 91 30
email: cabinet-maire@ville-seclin.fr
Specifically, Mayor Willem invites written testimonies, preferably in French, on the subjects:
--doctors having visited hospitals in Palestine, seen wounded children
--personalities observing behaviour of Israeli army
--witnessed settler violence against villagers
--Israeli citizens willing to recount the pressure they are subjected to to support IDF
--refuseniks opressed because refuse to carry arms in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
(Please send a copy of any material sent also to: project3@alt-info.org)
Nancy Hawker, The Alternative Information Center (www.alternativenews.org)
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