On October 2, 2017, AFPS 34 and AFPS 59-62, two local branches of the Association France Palestine Solidarité shared an article on their Facebook pages and websites praising the Palestinian wave of violence, which began in October 2015 and has included multiple knife and gun attacks against Israeli civilians and security forces. The article, accompanied by pictures of Palestinians hurling rocks, was written by a Palestinian Professor from Al-Aqsa University in Gaza. The posts:

  • Refer to these violent events as a “popular uprising in Palestine” in which “the young Palestinians pursue their peaceful and spontaneous actions against the soldiers and the Israeli settlers.”
  • Claim that young Palestinians respond to “bloody reprisals” with “peaceful demonstrations and an exemplary resistance, and the attacks by these young people don’t go beyond knife attack.”
  • Justify the attacks using the false pretext that the Israeli casualties are “all soldiers and settlers who are illegally in the Palestinian territories recognized as occupied.”
  • of stones and even in the attacks of soldiers with knives…reveals the bravery and the determination on the part of these women, absent of the second Intifada.”

In addition, AFPS 59-62 shared a picture on its Facebook page titled “Respect my existence or wait for the resistance!” showing a Palestinian woman hurling a rock.

In parallel, on October 14, 2017, AFPS 34 hosted an event “From the Balfour Declaration till today, a colonial tragedy- Keys to understand, keys to act!” supported by “departmental Council of Hérault” – a French regional government branch. Although boycotts and calls for boycotts are illegal under French law, topics at the event included discussions regarding past BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions) campaigns against Israeli banks and the Orange-Partner mobile phone network in Israel. B’Tselem researcher, Adam Aloni, and Ayman Odeh, head of Israel’s Joint (Arab) List in the Israeli Knesset, were included in the program.