The French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) has expressed “horror” over reports that Israeli soldiers had marked Palestinians with numbers on their foreheads and other parts of their bodies.
The CFCM on Wednesday voiced “horror” and “deep indignation” over media reports showing Palestinians detained during Israeli military operations in the occupied West Bank being marked and numbered by soldiers.
“The CFCM strongly condemns these barbaric acts, which by their very nature recall the darkest periods of European history.
In this regard, the CFCM stresses the particular symbolic and historical significance, in Europe and particularly in France, of reducing a human being to a simple number inscribed on their body,” it said in a written statement.
The CFCM said the dehumanisation of a people “has always been a preceding stage of, or accompanied, genocide”.
It said such acts did not appear to be isolated, citing reports of similar practices in Jenin last April. The group added that the Israeli army had not denied that the acts occurred but had instead sought to justify them.
“This case comes amid a context in which the Palestinian population in Gaza and the West Bank is facing violence and forced displacement on a very large scale,” the CFCM further noted.
It also condemned the daily killing of civilians, violence by Israeli soldiers against Palestinians and the “incessant attacks by settlers galvanized by a fanatical interior minister”.
“The CFCM calls on France, the European Union and the international community as a whole not to look away, to demand respect for international humanitarian law and fundamental rights, and to take firm and coercive action to end the violence and violations of human dignity,” it further said.
“Human dignity cannot be applied selectively. It must be defended for every human being, regardless of origin, religion or nationality.”
