Boumediene is facing the charge of inciting anti-Semitism, like many other activists who criticize Israel.
By Hadi Yahmid
2010/10/12 OnIslam
A French parliamentarian is facing a law suit over her call for a French boycott to Israeli products manufactured in the illegal Jewish settlements, and the trial is only the latest episode of targeting those who dare criticize Israel.
“The trial followed my calls for france to apply the decisions of the European Union and boycott Israeli products manufactured in settlements built on the occupied Palestinian territories ,” Senator Alima Boumediene, member of France’s upper house of the parliament, told OnIslam.net.
Boumediene, 54, is facing the charge of inciting anti-Semitism in a trial in Pontoise court (North of Paris) on Thursday, October 14.
The lawsuit was filed by a number of pro-Israel groups in France, including the Council of French Jewish Institutions and the National Office of Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism.
They accuse Boumediene, a leading campaigner for Palestinian rights, of being anti-Semitic over her participation in activities calling for boycotting Israeli products in France in 2009.
Other charges Boumediene faces in the trial include accusations of "incitement to racial hatred" and "discrimination against the Israeli nation".
The lawmaker, who descends from Algerian roots, is a prominent activist with the global movement for Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel (BDS).
A member of the French Green party, Boumediene has been elected as a member of the French Senate representing Paris since September 2004. she has also been a candidate in the European parliament elections in 2004
She is well known of defending Palestinian rights, and she has long campaigned for different measures denouncing the Israeli occupation of the [Palestinian lands.
Boumediene has always affirmed that she is campaigning against the Israeli government, not against Jewish or Israeli individuals.
If convicted, she would be deprived of her political rights for five year and therefore lose the right to be reelected in Parliament.
Powerful Lobby
Boumediene trial is not the first in France, where a powerful Israeli lobby wages ferocious attacks on those who criticize Israel while wielding the ever-present charge of anti-Semitism.
“They use the charge of anti-Semitism against anyone who raises criticism of Israel or even peacefully calls for boycotting Israeli products,” affirmed Boumediene.
Pro-Israel organizations have filed a series of complaints against French citizens for participating in campaigns to boycott Israeli products.
Among those who faced these charges is Stephane Hessel, a famed human rights campaigner and co-editor of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Sakina Arnaud, a pro-Palestinians activist, was convicted last September 2010 of 1,000 euro fine for placing a sticker in a Carrefour supermarket calling for boycotting Israeli apartheid.
Nevertheless, such trials are only further strengthening the well of politicians and rights activists who support the Palestinian cause.
“I and other activists in pro-Palestinians organizations will stay in the battle to support the Palestinian people,” insists Boumediene.
“Trials would only empower us with more determination to keep our fight.”
Since 2005, calls for boycotting Israeli products have been active in the European capitals.
There are more than 164 Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, eating up more than 40 percent of the occupied territory.
The international community considers all Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land illegal.
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