France prepares to expel a leader of the popular front for the liberation of Palestine
Mariam Abu Dagga traveled to France in response to an invitation to make a statement on the occasion of the screening of the documentary film “Yalla Gaza.” She had intended to participate in conferences related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The French authorities issued a decision to expel Mariam Abu Dagga, a leader in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and placed her under house arrest pending her deportation. This appears to be a step aimed at preventing her from participating in a number of events related to the war that Israel is waging on Gaza, while Paris prohibits any pro-Palestinian activities, including solidarity marches. It has been clear in its support of Israel in its war against the Hamas movement since the start of Operation Storm Al-Aqsa.
The French Ministry of the Interior justified its decision by speaking of the “threat she poses to public order in the context of severe tensions related to the war between Israel and Hamas, which erupted after an attack on the Israeli state. The European Union classifies the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine as a terrorist organization.
The order to expel the Palestinian activist is not immediately enforceable as the process requires the financial organization for Mariam Abu Dagga‘s departure.
As a result, she is under house arrest in Bouche du Rhone (southeast) for 45 days, until the end of November. She is required to “stay in the building where she resides in Marseille from 10:00 PM to 7:00 AM” and attend “daily at 12:30 PM at the police station in the city center,” according to the decision.
Mariam Abu Dagga obtained a visa to enter France for 50 days from the French consulate in Jerusalem at the beginning of August, where she was supposed to participate in various conferences on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Yael Braun-Pivet, the President of the French National Assembly, decided on October 9th to prevent this activist from coming to the Assembly, who had been invited by MP Arslia Soudié of the “France Avenir” party, which belongs to the radical left, to make a statement on the occasion of the screening of the documentary film “Yalla Gaza” on November 9th.
The MP emphasized that she had invited Abu Dagga based on her “women’s activity.” Her participation in a conference at a university in Lyon (southeast) also sparked controversy. In recent days, she visited the Marseille region, where she was invited, among other activities, to a conference titled “30 Years After the Oslo Accords, Where Are We?”
French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin called for the withdrawal of residence permits for foreigners convicted of committing any acts of anti-Semitism or incitement to terrorism and for them to be “expelled from France without delay.”
Since the attack launched by Hamas on October 7th, more than 1,400 Israelis have been killed. The retaliatory Israeli actions in the densely populated and besieged Gaza Strip have led to the deaths of more than 2,800 people, most of whom are Palestinian civilians, including hundreds of children, according to local authorities.
