Centrist and right-wing members of parliament condemned the resolution in the debate. Aurore Bergé, president of the centrist Renaissance Party, argued that the bill represented a “gesture of hate against the State of Israel.”
Meyer Habib, a Tunisian-Jewish MP who represents French citizens overseas said that it proved “antisemitism today is mainly on the left.”
“We can only reject the use of the term apartheid to describe the situation in Israel,” Laurence Boone, French secretary of state for European affairs, tweeted. “This term carries a heavy load, attached to terrible suffering and bruised memories.”
“We commend France’s National Assembly for voting overwhelmingly to reject a resolution that would have falsely applied the ‘apartheid’ label to Israel,” wrote the American Jewish Committee. “France remains a close friend and vital partner of the Jewish state, a pillar of the Israel-Europe relationship.”
And the European Jewish Congress expressed “deepest gratitude” to the assembly members, “who voted against the false and damaging label of apartheid being attached to Israel and had the courage to denounce its anti-Zionist nature,” and added, “Today, France sent a powerful message of solidarity with Israel and in favor of fairness.”
