France pauses Gazan arrivals after student's anti-Semitic posts

Profiles of more than 500 evacuees to be checked again as authorities launch new investigation

France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said there have been flaws in the background checks of Gazan evacuees. AFP

All evacuations from Gaza to France have been temporarily suspended while authorities in Paris review how a Palestinian student who allegedly posted anti-Semitic messages online was allowed into the country.

France has helped more than 500 people arrive from Gaza since the latest war started, including wounded children, journalists, students and artists. But Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said all evacuations to France are now on hold.

“No operation of this type, no evacuation of any kind will take place until we have drawn the consequences of this investigation,” he told radio France Info.

The prestigious Sciences Po university in the northern city of Lille cancelled the accreditation of the Palestinian student after an anonymous pro-Israel account on X published screenshots of posts she allegedly shared in September.

The posts include an image of Adolf Hitler and words appearing to call for the death of Jews. Another alleged post hails a “Hamas air defence system”.

Several French cabinet ministers backed the investigation. “Hamas propagandists have nothing to do in our country,” Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said.

French Interior Ministers Bruno Retailleau and Francois-Noel Buffet in conversation after a cabinet meeting in Paris. AFP

Anti-Semitism is a touchstone political topic in France. National statistics show attacks against Jews quadrupled after the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

Prime Minister Francois Bayrou said those responsible for the student's entry could be sanctioned. “Can there be sanctions when there are such breaches? Certainly,” said Mr Bayrou.

Security checks on Gazan evacuees that travel to France are normally conducted both by Israeli and French authorities, Mr Barrot said, admitting that there have been “flaws” in those checks.

Mr Barrot said the Gazan student would be expelled to an unnamed country. Sending her back to Gaza would violate the principle of non-refoulement, which bars states from sending people back to war zones. “She has no place in France. She must leave the country,” Mr Barrot said.

Evacuees scrutinised

The cases of all evacuees who have arrived from Gaza to France will be examined again, the Foreign Minister added. “All profiles that entered France will be subject to a new check following the security screening flaws,” Mr Barrot said.

The student had landed in France on July 11 on a scholarship based on “academic excellence” and after “security checks”, according to a French diplomatic source. She was supposed to start her studies on September 4.

Accusations against her surfaced after radio RMC broadcast an interview on Monday in which she explained that she had obtained a scholarship from the French government to study law and communication. In a video in which she showed her new living space in Lille, she said: “I am finally in a safe place.”

At the time, she was hosted by Sciences Po Lille director, Etienne Peyrat. Speaking after the cancellation of her inscription, Mr Peyrat said that her profile had been suggested to the university by the French consulate in Jerusalem.

Of the more than 500 people France has taken in from Gaza since the war started, 115 arrived in April. Most of them were artists and researchers who benefitted from a national emergency programme named Pause.

Previous arrivals included 25 injured or sick Gazan children who were brought to France for medical treatment. Among them were also French citizens and their family members and employees of the French Institute and the French Agency for Development and their families.