On Jan. 9, Collectif 19 mars, with the support of Coalition du Québec Urgence Palestine, hosted a webinar titled “Gaza, from global failure to the duty of humanity.” Élisabeth Garant, previous executive director at Centre Justice et Foi (CJF) started the webinar by introducing Collectif 19 mars and explaining how the organization was founded.

“The name Collectif 19 mars was chosen in memory of the date where employees of the CJF were suspended in an unjust and undignified way,” she said. “[Collectif 19 mars] is, however, a different initiative than CJF [….] to bring together, like we are doing today, people who are brave enough to believe we can contribute to social transformation through collective work and reflection, despite, or perhaps especially, because of the difficult times we live in.”

Monique Chemillier-Gendreau, jurist and professor emerita at Université Paris Cité, began the panel by highlighting the importance of distinguishing criticism against Israel from antisemitism.

“Hamas’ actions [on Oct. 7 in 2023] were unjustifiable international crimes that must be sanctioned, but Israel’s military response is a crime of immeasurably greater magnitude,” Chemillier-Gendreau said. “The argument, mostly used by [Israeli] officials, that all criticism directed against Israel is antisemitic, must be refuted. However, we must stay vigilant on antisemitism, which remains an extremely pertinent issue in our society.”

She then mentioned Israel’s war crimes and examined how other nations have attempted to condemn Israel’s actions.

“The policy pursued in Gaza demonstrates Israel’s genocidal intent, and such a case was brought by South Africa before the International Court of Justice,” Chemillier-Gendreau said. “The court has already issued three orders in 2024 to compel Israel to stop acts of genocide, provide humanitarian aid to the population of Gaza, and to halt the military offensive. These orders are binding. This is international law, and Israel ignores it.”

Chemillier-Gendreau then urged attendees to question the weakness of the international legal system.

“We must also take action to criticize the weakness in the application of international law,” she said. “We must cultivate hope by reflecting with forces from around the world, not only from the West, but with forces of the Global South that did not participate in the creation of the United Nations [….] With these forces, we must design a new international system because the current one has proven to be dying.”

Rony Brauman, former president of Médecins sans frontières, was the next speaker on the panel, who explained how Zionism is a colonial ideology.

“A form of colonialism that is unique in that it presents itself as a discourse of national emancipation, [Zionism] is indeed a matter of imposing a foreign state by force on a population in a region that did not ask for it,” Brauman said. “It is extremely important to distinguish between the legitimacy of Jewish presence in Palestine, which is a historical presence dating back to when Judaism was born, […] and installing a Jewish state in Palestine [….] Anti-Zionism is not opposition to the Jewish presence but to a Jewish state in Palestine.”

He continued to point to Israel’s systemic elimination of Palestinian press.

“Israel has methodically assassinated Palestinian journalists, the only ones who provide information to the rest of the world,” Brauman said. “Similarly, around 500 humanitarian workers have been assassinated in Gaza, an absolute record along with a record of children killed, women killed, and doctors killed. Gaza is a war of all records, and we must know that the war is not over yet.”

Didier Fassin, professor at Collège de France, was the last speaker on the panel. He explained that the international political system, including many Western countries, is culpable for the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

“The official term ‘Israel-Hamas war’ was used systemically [by Western mainstream media], even though from the start of Israel’s military operations, Israeli officials, political or military, have announced that the plan was to destroy Gaza and its population,” Fassin said. “Although a ceasefire has been signed, it has been violated daily [….] The time has come to start reflecting on what has happened over the last two years.”

*All quotes are translated from French.