The Palestine Chronicle / July 9, 2024
A renowned French political scientist who has been outspoken about the Israeli genocide in besieged Gaza has been placed in custody by French authorities for ‘advocacy of terrorism,’ his lawyer said Tuesday, Anadolu news agency reported on Tuesday.
François Burgat was detained by police in the southern city of Aix-en-Provence over his alleged “advocacy of terrorism,” lawyer Rafik Chekkat said on X.
The European Jewish Organization filed a complaint about the expert on the Arab world and Islamophobia for reposting a post on X on January 2, Chekkat told Anadolu.
“Burgat is giving honest answers and refers to his status as a researcher and the books he wrote. He said that he was also heard at the National Assembly, the Senate, the Criminal Court, etc. He was asked questions about the conflict and he had the opportunity to express himself,” the lawyer explained.
Burgat has openly expressed his support for Gaza in various statements and said in a post on X earlier this year that he has “infinitely more respect and appreciation for the leaders of Hamas than the leaders of the state of Israel.”
He has also criticized France’s stance on Hamas, calling it a capitulation to US and Israeli policy.
War on Intellectuals
The latest action by French authority is consistent with a trajectory of anti-Palestinian actions, fueled mostly by pro-Israeli groups and accommodated by some Western governments.
In a recent article published in the Palestine Chronicle, Robert Inlakesh wrote: “Doxing, disinformation, buying political candidates, Islamophobia, racism, meritless accusations, physical assaults, verbal attacks, censorship, and even antisemitism are all tools that have been used and abused by pro-Israeli propagandists in order to intimidate and silence pro-Palestinian voices.”
Inlakesh was commenting on a recent investigative piece published by The Guardian which exposed the central figure operating in what is known as the ‘Shirion Collective’ – “an Israeli disinformation network, that offered ‘bounties’ for information on pro-Palestinian activists.”
The report, “which revealed the tech entrepreneur, Daniel Linden, to be heading the self-described ‘surveillance collective’, raised many eyebrows about the pernicious nature of Israel’s information war waged separately from its genocidal assault on Gaza,” he wrote.
“Al-Jazeera and the Palestine Chronicle itself have been subjected to a pro-Israeli disinformation campaign, while even CNN now stands accused of hiring a journalist allegedly working for Hamas,” Inlakesh added.
“This has demonstrated that media platforms, even those that often engage in pro-Israeli propaganda, are not safe from smear and allegations designed to discredit their reporting on the situation in Gaza.”
