The single incident prompted France to halt evacuations from Gaza, a move that Amnesty described as “discriminatory” and “based solely on the nationality of a group of people”.
France deported Palestinian student, Nour Attaalah, to Qatar on Sunday after accusing her of sharing posts what it deemed as “antisemitic” on her X account, which her lawyer said were “taken out of context”.
Attaalah had arrived in France on July 11 to study at Sciences Po Lille on a French scholarship programme for students from Gaza, according to a French diplomatic source cited by France 24.
On Thursday, her university withdrew Attaalah’s accreditation citing her online posts and over allegations that she tried to “justify a crime against humanity”, the city’s chief prosecutor told AFP.
France’s foreign ministry issued a statement on Sunday confirming that Attaalah left France to continue her studies in Qatar.
“Jean-Noël Barrot stressed the unacceptable nature of the comments made by Ms. Nour Attaalah, a Gazan student, before she entered French territory. Given the seriousness of the situation, Ms. Attaalah was unable to remain in France,” the French foreign ministry said.
“France thanks the Qatari authorities for their decisive cooperation,” the ministry added.
Qatar has not publicly commented on the matter and it remains unclear where Attaalah will pursue her education in the Gulf state.
The move came after pro-Israel accounts on X posted screenshots attributed to Attaalah’s account, which included a repost of Adolf Hitler and a caption calling for the death of Jews.
The account was suspended following orders by French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau while Sciences Po Lille had confirmed on Wednesday that the screenshots were from Attaalah’s actual account.
Attaalah’s lawyer, Ossama Dahmane, said she chose to “pursue her studies in another country in a spirit of appeasement and to guarantee her security” even if “she firmly denies the accusations made against her”, as quoted by French media.
Dahmane noted that the “alleged facts are largely based on shared tweets, taken out of context”.
The single incident prompted France to halt evacuations from Gaza and all the Palestinians who came from the territory under the programme will be subjected to a second screening.
France has evacuated more than 500 people from the Gaza Strip since Israel launched the genocidal war in the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023.
“No evacuation of any kind will take place until we have drawn conclusions from this investigation,” Barrot told Franceinfo radio on Friday.
France’s decision to halt evacuations of Palestinians in Gaza was met with outrage, including by Amnesty, which described the move as “discriminatory” and “based solely on the nationality of a group of people”.
The rights organisation noted that the decision goes against the need to protect Palestinians “fleeing persecution by the Israeli state” under the law of the National Asylum Court (CNDA), which enabled their recognition as refugees in France.
“The French authorities made this decision in response to antisemitic remarks that a student in France allegedly posted on social media. The remarks have since been deleted,” Amnesty said, stressing that combating hate speech “must not come at the expense of protecting asylum seekers”.
Israel has carried out the genocidal war in the Gaza Strip for nearly two years, killing more than 61,700 Palestinians, with the figure only believed to be higher as thousands others remain under the rubble.
A total of 2.1 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are also being starved by Israel as it continues imposing a complete blockade on the territory.
On Monday, Gaza’s health ministry confirmed that 180 Palestinians, including 93 children, have died as a result of malnutrition, with the figure expected to rise amid the ongoing blockade.
