Today (November 9, 2023), France is hosting an international humanitarian conference for Gaza’s civilian population – initiated and led by President Macron.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “the conference will mobilize the main players involved in the humanitarian response in Gaza and determined to take concrete action to support Palestinian civilians in the city: States, main donors, international organizations and NGOs active in Gaza” (emphasis added).

This conference could have been an important opportunity to address the challenges of delivering aid in conflict zones, specifically Gaza, and the necessity of guaranteeing that humanitarian aid is not diverted by terror organizations.

Instead, it is at risk of becoming another platform used for propaganda and further demonizing Israel.

Indeed, as announced by a leading BDS group in France, the Platform of French NGOs for Palestine (PFP), 13 highly politicized and blatantly anti-Israel NGOs will hold a press conference at the end of the government event. The NGOs include Amnesty International, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), War Child UK, PFP, and Médecins Sans Frontières France (MSF).

These self-declared human rights groups, which barely condemned Hamas’ October 7 massacre, have been leading anti-Israel campaigns for years, including antisemitic apartheid labeling, discriminatory BDS, and lawfare (ICC) campaigns. This form of political warfare does not help Palestinian people  or further the urgent humanitarian objectives.

In advance of the conference, the NGOs have published a tidal wave of biased political statements, completely ignoring the Israeli victims of Hamas’ incomprehensibly brutal massacre that necessitated the military response in Gaza. . For example, the official identified with the Paris-based FIDH is also a senior official for Al-Haq, an NGO linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror group that participated in the October 7th massacre, stated:

“The scope of the humanitarian conference ignores the obligation of third states to prevent atrocities and crimes being committed against Palestinians at this very moment. The call for a ceasefire is a priority to end the massacre of civilians. Unconditional humanitarian aid, water, fuel, medicine and food must be permitted and distributed to all parts of the Gaza Strip. Member states must take all necessary measures to hold Israel accountable, including through sanctions, and pressure Israel to end its illegal occupation and violations committed against the Palestinian people. States must allow the United Nations Commission of Inquiry to carry out the investigations entrusted to it, as well as to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, and provide them with their support” (emphases added).

This propaganda erases the 1400 Israeli massacre victims, 240 hostages including 33 children, and the other atrocities committed by Hamas, and directly contradicts the humanitarian principles that FIDH and the other NGOs pretend to support.