A French investigating magistrate has issued summonses to two French-Israeli nationals in connection with “genocide complicity” over allegations that they tried to block the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, French media reported.
The summons, which reportedly marks the first time a country has considered blocking aid “complicated with genocide”, was issued for Nili Kupfer-Naouri and Rachel Touitou in July, Le Monde and Agence France-Presse reported.
They need Touitou, whose Tsav 9 group intercepted and attacked the aid convoys, and Kupfer-Naouri, in Israel is Eternal, who supports the actions, to face a magistrate, but does not require their arrest.
In 2024 the Biden administration described Tsav 9 as a “violent, extremist” group and imposed sanctions on it for “blocking, harassing and harming” humanitarian convoys. The sanctions were lifted by the Trump administration.
Israel blocked the delivery of aid to Gaza during the war, causing widespread starvation and parts of the territory became a man-made famine last summer. Tsav 9 resisted even the limited cargo that came in.
Kupfer-Naouri told the pro-Israel news site News in an interview on 16 January that he had been summoned, describing the French investigation as “antisemitic nonsense” and saying “he will never set foot in France again”.
she said on social media on Tuesday: “In addition to the military fields where our IDF [Israel Defense Forces] the soldiers fought with courage, an additional front was opened: the truth and justice. I am proud to fight on this front! No one will shut me up.”
Touitou said the charges were political persecution, and claimed that the Tsav 9 demonstrations were a non-violent response to Hamas organizing massive diversions of humanitarian aid during the war, allegations that are unfounded.
“I will always fight to defend the truth, my people and my country,” he said in a social media post, adding an Israeli flag at the end of his message.
The calls do not automatically lead to an arrest, although people can be taken into custody after an interview. They can be issued by investigating magistrates without permission from anti-terrorist prosecutors, who are responsible for genocide cases.
French pro-Israeli activists are also being investigated for “public incitement to genocide”, sources close to the investigation told Agence France-Presse, with summonses likely to be issued for 10 other people.
The initial complaint was filed last year by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights and the Palestinian rights groups Al-Haq and Al Mezan.
Clémence Bectarte, a lawyer for the groups, said the investigation was the first of its kind. Other legal complaints have been filed in France for war crimes, over the deaths of Franco-Palestinian children in Gaza and against two Franco-Israeli soldiers.
“These warrants mark the first judicial recognition that the deliberate deprivation of Palestinians in Gaza of humanitarian aid may be tantamount to genocide,” Bectarte said.
The French-Palestinian collective Nidal said the calls show “the strength of the Franco-Palestinian diaspora, which has built a legal resistance to seek the justice it deserves”. It said it was “very pleased” with the way the French justice system had acted.
Marion Lafouge and Damia Taharraoui, two lawyers representing the French Jewish Union for Peace (UJFP), told Le Monde that the summons “show the serious and real nature of the alleged acts”.
They added: “The complexity of genocide is not an abstract concept: it is concrete and specific actions that are investigated in [France’s] central office for combating crimes against humanity and hate crimes.”