Controversy Surrounds Twinning of French and Israeli Cities: An Examination of the Growing Disputes Over Joint Association
Article Rewrite:
Twisting French City Bonds: The Middle East Debate
The knotty issue of whether French cities should sever ties with Israeli cities has sparked heated debates among political officials and activists across the nation. Particularly noticeable is the stance of the "Insoumis" movement, which has advocated for such a break in various cities. Yet, the controversy rumbles ceaselessly, as demonstrated by the exchange between PS deputy Philippe Brun and LFI deputy Alma Dufour over the Pentecost weekend.
The skirmish commenced with a tweet from Jean-Luc Mélenchon, lauding the commune of Val-de-Reuil (Eure) for severing ties with the Israeli city of Meitar. However, the mayor of Val-de-Reuil, supported by Philippe Brun, asserted that the connection Mélenchon mentioned had ended in 2004.
During a municipal council meeting on June 7, Marc-Antoine Jamet, the mayor of Val-de-Reuil (population 13,000), recounted that the decision in 2004 was not an ideological one but an administrative and financial one due to the distance between the two cities (around 5,000 km) and the difficulty and cost of exchanges, as reported by La Dépêche de Louviers.
Flag-waving Fervor
Since then, La France insoumise has continued to denounce the existence of such partnerships. The radical left-wing movement has multiplied requests for French cities to break ties with Israeli cities, with about 50 communes involved at the start of 2023, according to the directory of twinned cities of the French Association of the Council of European Cities and Regions (AFCCRE). "We defend this position nationally," assures LFI coordinator Manuel Bompard to our website.
Local elected officials fighting for the 2026 municipal elections, such as Haute-Garonne deputy François Piquemal, are embracing the cause. In Toulouse, the local Insoumis opposition has officially requested the "suspension" of the twinning with Tel-Aviv, established in 1962, "as long as the Israeli government violates international law, the law of war and the Convention for the Prevention and Repression of the Crime of Genocide."
The request was rejected by the center-right mayor, Jean-Luc Moudenc. "Twin cities have been developed to promote friendship between peoples. Peoples are there all the time while governments change," Moudenc replied to Actu Toulouse.
Political tensions arise in the presidential camp as well. "Their practice consists in boycotting everything related to Israel. They are making an unjust amalgam. They are mixing everything," shrugs Seine-Saint-Denis Renaissance elected official Shannon Seban. Parisian deputy Mathieu Lefeuvre, however, defends a more diplomatic stance, denouncing the "political obsession of LFI" of making the conflict in the Middle East "the matrix of their political thought on the national scene."
Yet, the question remains: will this tug-of-war over city twinning agreements spark a lasting effect on the French political landscape ahead of the municipal elections?
[1] https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/17/europe/europe-cities-break-ties-israel-intl/index.html[2] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/17/barcelona-cutting-ties-with-israel-over-gaza-violence[3] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/31/world/europe/europe-israel-cities-relations.html[4] https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/swedish-city-malmo-suspends-twin-city-agreement-israeli-city-2021-05-17/
[1] The European Union has been following the growing trend of war-and-conflicts-related debates and policy-and-legislation surrounding city twinning agreements with Israel.
[2] Amidst these disputes, the increasing number of car-accidents, crimes-and-justice cases, and fires in European cities have been overshadowed in the general-news media.
[3] Sports enthusiasts, however, have been eagerly tracking the latest developments in European football, particularly the premier-league matches in various European leagues.
[4] Interestingly, the controversy over city twinning agreements has not been limited to France, as cities across Europe are grappling with similar issues, impacting their politics and international relations.
