French foreign minister Stephane Sejourne: Accusing Israel of genocide “crosses a moral threshold”

France’s new Foreign Minister, Stéphane Séjourné, was asked in parliament in Paris this week about France’s position regarding South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Courts of Justice (ICJ).

Séjourné, who at 38 years old is France’s youngest head of diplomacy in the Fifth Republic, said in response that "words have meaning, and to accuse the Jewish State of genocide is to cross a moral threshold. We cannot exploit the notion of genocide for political ends".

Many on social media were quick to criticise Séjourné and his conflation between Israel and Jewishness, which ignores the many non-Jewish people that reside in Israel and seemingly contradicts France’s long-standing support for the ICJ and international justice systems.