Foreword
While we are opposed to the dissolution of Urgence Palestine, we also believe a real clarification is necessary.
The procedure initiated by Retailleau [translator’s note: French Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau] to dissolve Urgence Palestine and the Jeune Garde Antifasciste is in line with an authoritarian political agenda driven by the extreme right, which will not stop with these organisations and is a threat to all social movements.
But his should not lead us to see this organisation through rose-tinted glasses or as a potential ally, in disregard of the facts and of the political positions it has taken.
That Urgence Palestine is being targeted by the state and the far right does not magically transform this organisation, which defends reactionaries and antisemites, into an anti-fascist or ‘progressive’ organisation.
This text is intended as a reminder of UP’s positions and how they run counter to our internationalist, anti-racist and anti-fascist values. It is complementary to the article Support for the Palestinian People Must Not Tolerate Antisemitism or Reactionary Ideas from February 2024 [t/n: updated version published on 2 June 2024]. It will therefore focus mainly on public positions taken after February 2024. Positions expressed by UP before February 2024 have already been substantiated and sourced in the aforementioned article, two extracts of which are reproduced below:
“The atrocities committed by the Israeli army and Israeli settlers must never cause us to lose sight of our internationalist, anti-fascist, anti-racist and anti-patriarchal values.
In France, the ambiguity of our political camp (part of the left and the libertarians) on these questions benefits the antisemites; plays into the hands of the extreme right, which poses as defenders of Jews in order to better attack Arabs, North Africans and Muslims; endangers Jews and reduces our capacity for mass mobilisation in support of the Palestinian people.”
“Despite our profound opposition to the positions taken by [Urgence Palestine], we are opposed to its dissolution by the state. It is up to the social movements to become aware of the problematic aspects of this organisation and disengage from it.”
Excerpt from the Open Letter ‘Support for the Palestinian people must not tolerate anti-Semitism or reactionary ideas’, Feb. 2024
Examples of Urgence Palestine’s problematic positions
Support for reactionary, fundamentalist, antisemitic, sexist and homophobic forces (such as Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis)
- Total lack of support for the Gazans who have been demonstrating almost daily against Hamas since 25 March 2025 – see for example this link for more information
- On 16 May 2025, Omar Alsoumi (spokesman for Urgence Palestine) salutes “the extraordinary resistance of Yemen today”, referring to the actions of the Houthis, whose motto contains “Curse on the Jews” – see this link
- On 8 February 2025, in Paris, an activist from the Ligue de la Jeunesse Révolutionnaire (LJR) speaks out on the Urgence Palestine truck (after which this activist is given unconditional support): “I’m going to start by saluting the invincible and glorious Palestinian resistance. All the factions, led by the Al-Qassam brigades, the Iraqi militias, our brothers of the Lebanese Hezbollah, and the great and proud nation of Yemen and the Houthi militias” – “What revolutionary did not cry with joy on 7 October?” – link
- On 3 November 2024 Omar Alsoumi of UP asks: “Do we agree to continue to be the Al-Aqsa flood which, all over the world, is inundating the streets, inundating the souls, inundating people’s consciousness?” (“Al Aqsa Flood” refers to the 7 October attack, which mainly targeted civilians) – link
- 1 August 2024 – Tribute, by UP, to Ismael Haniyeh, former head of the political bureau of Hamas – link
- On 8 June 2024 Omar Alsoumi states: “This struggle is that of the united resistance of all factions” – link
- A press release of 6 June 2024, by Abdallah Silwai for Boussole Palestine and Urgence Palestine, states: “The infamous classifications [of different organisations making up the Palestinian resistance] must be scrapped, the sanctions and siege imposed on them must be lifted, and a dialogue must be opened among all components of the anti-colonial resistance.” – link
- On 30 April 2024 UP relays a press release about universities whose first signatory is Hamas (‘Islamic Resistance Movement’) – link
Denial of the crimes committed on 7 October 2023
On 1 March 2024, in an ‘Open Letter’ (link) in response to the text Support for the Palestinian People Must Not Tolerate Antisemitism or Reactionary Ideas:
- The attacks of 7 October are described by Omar Alsoumi as ‘acts of war’, and he implies that most of the Israelis killed that day were killed by the Israeli army.
The coalition forces of the Palestinian national movement that took the initiative on 7 October did indeed commit acts of war and kill Israelis – although the hypothesis that Israeli helicopters fired on participants in the rave party near Gaza is more than serious and many witnesses question the Israeli version of the attack on the Kibbutz.
- The rapes of Israeli women are minimised or even denied: “Most of the crimes and abuses (rape, femicide, decapitated babies, etc.) attributed to Hamas and which the Zionist media keep harping on about, have either been refuted by numerous journalists, particularly Israeli journalists from Haaretz, but also by international bodies, or are very poorly substantiated” – link. By this date, 1 March 24, however, reports of rape were already widely known. See this link.
Confusionism, conspiracism, antisemitism
- May 2025 – “Palestine, despoiled and colonised by greed, envy and avarice”, in Omar Alsoumi: Palestine, le nom d’une révolution décoloniale in “Terres et liberté. Manifeste antiraciste pour une écologie de la libération”, edited by F. Ouassak, p. 163.
- 10 May 2025 – “From Tel Aviv, Islamophobia has been constructed as a strategy to paralyse us”, says Omar Alsoumi (link), at the microphone of Mizane TV, a channel that gives a voice to Soralians [t/n: followers of Alain Soral] such as Youssef Hindi and “red-brown” ideologues such as Michel Collon. The channel promotes the “Librairie de l’Orient” (link), which sells around sixty books published by KontreKulture (Alain Soral’s publishing house), as well as Holocaust denialist literature (link).
- 7 March 2025 – Slogan by UP at a demonstration: “Min el-mayeh lil-mayeh, Falastin Arabiyeh” – “From the river to the sea, Palestine is Arab” – link
- October 2024 – Omar Alsoumi states: “What I see is the fascisation of the neoliberal order, embodied by the Zionist state, which fascinates many leaders around the world, who would like, in the same way that the Zionists have done and are still doing, to grab all the wealth and get rid of all these peoples who are in the way” – link
- 1 June 2024 – Omar Alsoumi declares: “Zionism was born in the matrix of European fascism” – link – Zionism of course emerged at least two decades before the first appearance of fascism…
- On 24 November 2023 a UP press release recycles the idea of the Jewish world conspiracy: “Zionism was born in the West and continues to be supported by the colonial, imperialist and racist powers, where its networks feed on the domination of powerful and rich white men’ – link
Partnerships with antisemites and/or conspiracy theorists:
With Michel Collon
Michel Collon is a campist activist, pro-Bachar, pro-Putin, a conspiracy theorist who regularly relays antisemitic messages – link and link;
Joint Urgence Palestine / Michel Collon meetings:
Europalestine & Olivia Zémor
Europalestine is an organisation [t/n: co-founded by Olivia Zémor] that has long been a partner of Dieudonné, regularly relays fake news and conspiracy theories and regularly collaborates with a Holocaust-denialist cartoonist – link
- 7 May 2025 Olivia Zémor’s signature against the dissolution of UP – link
- 14 April 2024 Olivia Zémor translates for Ramy Shaat of UP – link
- Participation in numerous demonstrations together, without this seeming to bother UP in any way
The original French version of this press release was first published on the website of the group Action Solidaire Antiraciste Partisane (ASAP). This English translation, by Daniel Mang, was first published on the Left Renewal Blog.