A French judge\u2019s decision to summon two dual French-Israeli citizens over genocide charges for protesting Jerusalem\u2019s handling of aid to Hamas-run Gaza is intended to pave the way for prosecuting thousands of French citizens who had served in the Israeli army, Rachel Touitou told JNS.<\/p>\n
Touitou, along with Nili Kupfer-Naouri, condemned the summons against them, which were granted last July but first reported by French media on Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am just a pawn in a broader effort to make defending Israel illegal,\u201d Touitou told JNS on Monday regarding the summons, which are based on the French penal code\u2019s relatively broad jurisdiction in genocide cases.<\/p>\n
Anti-Israel activists had filed the complaints to French justice officials, accusing the women of \u201ccomplicity in genocide\u201d and \u201cincitement to genocide,\u201d Le Figaro reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n The complaints against the women cited their participation in protests between January and November 2024, and in May 2025, against the flow of aid trucks into Gaza through the Nitzana and Kerem Shalom crossings.<\/p>\n The two, who are not in France, were ordered to appear before a judge to be questioned about the allegations. Article 689 of the French penal code says that any citizen of a country that\u2019s a member of the International Criminal Court\u2014 including France\u2014may be tried in France for genocide.<\/p>\n The summons, which both women have condemned as \u201clawfare,\u201d has drawn angry reactions from Jewish community groups in France as well as from Israeli officials.<\/p>\n Touitou told JNS that her lawyer was fighting to lift the summons.<\/p>\n \u201cFrance, in an effort to appease the Arab Islamist left, is throwing me to the wolves. It is easier than going after terrorists,\u201d said Touitou.<\/p>\n The complainants belonged to the Al-Haq and Al-Mezan anti-Israel activist groups, according to Le Figaro. Both groups specialize <\/a>in anti-Israel lawfare, according to NGO Monitor. Al-Haq has had several officials and employees serve in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and Hamas, according to the Israel-based watchdog group. The United States in Sept. 2025 introduced <\/a>sanctions against both groups for their anti-Israel activities.<\/p>\n In an interview with JNS, Touitou, who was active with the Israeli Tzav 9 group that protested the transfer of aid to Gaza during the war, described the proceedings against her and Kupfer-Naouri as a trial balloon\u2014an attempt to create a precedent for prosecuting French civilians who\u2019d served in the Israel Defense Forces.<\/p>\n \u201cI am not the real target,\u201d said Touitou, adding, \u201cThe strategy is to later go after Franco-Israeli soldiers.\u201d If she is indicted for war crimes and complicity in genocide as a civilian protester, \u201cthen that opens the door\u201d to going after those who served in the Israeli security forces, she said.<\/p>\n The action against her and Kupfer-Naouri \u201cwill contribute to the delegitimization of Israel and [will]ultimately turn us into pariahs and criminals, even though we lived through a horrific war and were defending ourselves. I am just a pawn in a broader effort to make defending Israel illegal,\u201d said Touitou.<\/p>\n During the war, Tzav 9 engaged in what it said were non-violent protests aimed at blocking aid convoys from entering Gaza until the hostages being held there by terrorist groups were released. As many as 75% of the convoys entering Gaza were being diverted by Hamas and various criminal organizations in Gaza, the group claimed, citing government officials.<\/p>\n Critics of Tzav 9 have accused it of delaying the entry into Gaza of critically needed supplies. Advocates of the group argued that the aid was supporting the Hamas war machine, prolonging the captivity of the hostages.<\/p>\n Under former U.S. president Joe Biden, the U.S. State Department\u00a0condemned <\/a>and sanctioned Tzav 9, calling it \u201ca violent extremist Israeli group that has been blocking, harassing and damaging convoys carrying lifesaving humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n Kupfer-Naouri, a lawyer and pro-Israel activist, said on X on Tuesday that she was \u201cproud to fight on this front of truth and justice,\u201d which she said was \u201cin addition to the military fronts on which our IDF soldiers are fighting with bravery.\u201d She added, \u201dNo one will make me bow my head. No one will silence me. Am Yisrael Chai!\u201d\u00a0Touitou has also vowed to continue to defend Israel.<\/p>\n The women are not subject to an arrest warrant. The milder measure of a summons aims to bring a person before a magistrate without imposing pre-trial detention. The women do not intend to travel to France, Le Figaro reported. Authorities could escalate the summons and issue arrest warrants instead.<\/p>\n Touitou, who is represented in France by attorney Gilles-William Goldnadel, has not yet received the case file against her, she told JNS. What she has received, she added, are death threats, including one warning that she would suffer the same fate as Ilan Halimi, a French Jew who was kidnapped, tortured and murdered near Paris in 2006 by a gang of criminals who targeted him because he was Jewish.<\/p>\n \u201cThe French government is not capable of ensuring the security of the Jewish community in France, and it will not be able to ensure my safety if I go there to face questioning,\u201d said Touitou. \u201cThat is what my lawyer will convey to the judges. I am available to them via Zoom. I have nothing to hide,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n France has seen a sharp rise in antisemitism in the wake of the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of southern Israel. The country saw 1,570 documented antisemitic incidents in 2024, according to the SPCJ watchdog and security group, a slight drop from the 1,676 cases documented in 2023. That year and 2024 had, respectively, the highest and second-highest annual tally of antisemitic incidents on record in over a decade, constituting a near quadrupling of the 2022 total. The SPCJ has not yet released its 2025 report.<\/p>\n Kupfer-Naouri\u2019s lawyer, Olivier Pardo, called the case an attempt to criminalize support for Israel. Her actions were peaceful, Pardo told the AFP news agency, and took place \u201cwhen Israeli hostages were still being held\u201d in Gaza.<\/p>\n In an open letter to the two women, Yosef Taieb, an Israeli Knesset lawmaker and chair of the Knesset\u2019s Israel-France Friendship Group, wrote<\/a>: \u201cI condemn with the utmost firmness the fact that Israel could be accused of genocide, and that this accusation could be the subject of an attempt to give this allegation judicial justification\u2014at your expense.\u201d<\/p>\n