Pressure to cancel French academic conference on Palestine highlights 'hysterical' debate

A two-day academic conference on Europe-Palestine relations that ended on Friday has triggered a fierce debate on freedom of speech, with former senior European officials describing to The National the direct intervention by a cabinet member as a mistake.

The event was initially supposed to take place at France's most prestigious research venues, the College de France, but it was cancelled last week. The College de France pointed to an article published in magazine Le Point that echoed criticism by anonymous researchers and the International League against Racism and anti-Semitism, a French NGO.

The event was ultimately held in the offices of one of the organisers.

"I think it was a big error from the side of the French government to forbid this event," said former EU foreign affairs chief, Josep Borrell. "In Spain, the Minister of Universities could never do something like this to say, 'I don't like this event, please don't do it'."

Denis Bauchard, an former French ambassador to Jordan and Canada who was involved in organising the conference, highlighted deep divisions in France over Palestine.

"It is addressed by some in an almost hysterical and very passionate way," he said.

There are regular controversies over Israel and Palestine in France, including fistfights at a recent concert given by the Israel philharmonic, but the cancellation of a scientific conference has been described as an attempt to clamp down on freedom of expression.

Ministerial intervention

In a statement, the College de France said that "although the symposium 'Palestine and Europe' did not contravene the general rules of academic freedom, the issue of the plurality of analyses was publicly challenged by various actors."

Higher Education minister Philippe Baptiste wrote on X that he welcomed the event's cancellation, saying that he had been in touch with the College de France about its lack of plurality.

In a letter to the institution, which was leaked to national media, Mr Baptiste said that he was unable to ban a scientific event in a state that adheres to the "rule of law." "It is my role to ensure respect for it [the education code and the principle of academic freedom], including in the context of this conference, although I personally disagree with the angle taken by it," he wrote, according to daily Le Monde.

His office told the French press that he denies that he had pressured the College de France to cancel the event.

The minister's intervention was widely criticised, including by academics that supported the event's cancellation. "The only real infringement on academic freedom was the intervention of the minister, who overstepped his authority by interfering in a debate between academics," wrote sociologist Nathalie Heinich in an op-ed in Le Monde.

The Arab Centre for Research and Political Studies of Paris (Carep), one of the event's organisers, decided to hold it in its offices in the south of Paris. While space for attendees was just a fraction of the 460 seats at the College de France, views online exceeded 30,000 – a figure unheard of at previous conferences streamed by the think tank.

Accusations of anti-Semitism

For two days, researchers presented their work on topics related to Europe's relations with Palestine in panels that touched on the history of Zionism in Europe, its links to colonialism, and the European Union's divisions on the Israel-Palestine conflict.

In his opening statement, Carep's Paris director Salam Kawakibi said the controversy had reminded him of another conference he had organised in 2002 in Syria, which authorities had approved despite asking questions.

"I'm shocked," he told The National. "I thought I'd find an oasis of freedom in France, but McCarthyism in France is worse than McCarthyism in the US."

Researchers came from a wide range of universities, including the Swiss Federal Technology Institute of Lausanne, Queen Mary University in London, the University of Amsterdam and the Free University of Brussels.

Shir Hever, manager of the Alliance for Justice between Israelis and Palestinians, said he was unsurprised by the controversy because the conference highlighted European violations of international law. Reports show that weapons exports to Israel have continued despite the risk of genocide stated by the International Court of Justice.

"If someone is saying that a conference about Palestine should include speakers from the group that is committing those crimes, [then he] is a racist," Mr Hever told The National.

Graffiti on the pavement outside Carep's building were found on the second day of the conference. They accused participants in the closing debate – UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese and former French foreign minister Dominique de Villepin – of collaborating with Hamas. "Anti Zionists = anti-Semites," one graffito read. They also equated Carep with Qatar and Hamas.

The presence of Ms Albanese, who was hit with US sanctions in August after publishing a report naming American companies aiding Israel's occupation and war in Gaza, might have contributed to the controversy, Mr Bauchard said. He also pointed at the use of the term "colonialism", which is viewed by certain supporters of Israel as hostile.

A previous conference co-organised with the College de France went ahead with "no problem", he said. "I think it stemmed from the fact that there are many speakers from foreign universities who are described by certain media outlets and political parties as fundamentally hostile and critical towards Israel."

Mr Borrell, who attended in person the conference in full, said he was "very sad" to see the graffiti. "This use and abuse of the word anti-Semitic, it becomes unacceptable, because everyone who is questioning the policies of the Netanyahu government is being called anti-Semitic," he told The National.

'Irrelevant' Europe

Mr Borrell, whose mandate ended last December, gave a bleak view of Europe's role in the conflict, which he described as "irrelevant". "When you are divided at the European Union, you don't exist," he said.

In the closing debate, Mr Borrell highlighted the contradiction in France's position on Palestine. On one hand, Paris led a new wave of recognitions of Palestinian statehood in September, but has in practice taken fewer steps than other European countries in, for example, working towards implementing an ICJ ruling demanding that states cease trade with the occupied Palestinian territories.

"I saw France's votes at the European council, and they did not make me feel enthusiastic," he said. In his former role, Mr Borrell, who would preside over meetings of the EU's 27 foreign ministers, never commented on the position of individual member states.

Meanwhile, Mr de Villepin, whose popularity soared in the Arab world in 2003 after he gave a speech at the UN rejecting the US invasion of Iraq, called on EU states to once again have the courage to diverge from Washington's position. Ms Albanese, who criticised Europe's inaction, said she believed that the younger European generation would lead change on policies towards Israel.