Following an application filed by the Palestine Vaincra group, the Conseil d'État today ruled that the decree dissolving it was legal. Its decision was based on the fact that messages shared by the group on its social media platforms led to highly aggressive and hateful remarks directed at Israeli citizens of the Jewish faith, including explicit anti-Semitic comments. These comments, which amount to incitement to discrimination, hatred or violence, are deemed attributable to the group if it fails to adequately moderate them.
On March 9, 2022, the Government ordered the dissolution of Palestine Vaincra under article L. 212-1 of the French Internal Security Code. This article allows for the dissolution, by decree from the Council of Ministers, of de facto associations or groups that "incite or contribute through their actions to discrimination, hatred or violence against individuals or groups based on their origin (...) or their actual or presumed affiliation or non-affiliation to a specific ethnic group, nation, alleged race or religion (...)." Palestine Vaincra and other individuals had applied to the Conseil d'État to annul the dissolution.
The Conseil d'État ruled that the dissolution of Palestine Vaincra is legal. It observed that while the views expressed by the group do not, on their own, amount to anti-Semitic statements, the messages it shares on its social media platforms provoke highly aggressive and hateful comments. These comments, under the guise of targeting "Zionists," are directed at all Israeli citizens of the Jewish faith, and may sometimes even carry an explicitly anti-Semitic undertone.
By implementing article L. 212-1-1 of the French Internal Security Code, the Conseil d'État considered that these comments, which constitute an incitement to discrimination, hatred or violence, were attributable to the group insofar as it did not prevent or moderate them according to the means at its disposal.