France halts intake of Gazans over student's antisemitic posts

France said Friday it would suspend a programme receiving Palestinians from conflict-torn Gaza until an investigation into how a student accused of sharing antisemitic posts was allowed into the country was concluded.

The move comes after officials said the female student from Gaza would have to leave France after the Sciences Po university in the northern city of Lille revoked her accreditation over the online posts.

“No evacuation of any kind will take place until we have drawn conclusions from this investigation,” Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told Franceinfo radio.

All Gazans who have entered France will undergo a second screening, he added.

The foreign ministry told AFP it could not disclose how many people would be affected by the policy change, citing confidentiality concerns.

France has helped more than 500 people leave Gaza since the latest war between Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israel started, including wounded children, journalists, students and artists.

The conflict, triggered by Hamas’s murderous October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, has seen Israel retaliate with a deadly military campaign and an aid blockade in Gaza that some rights groups have qualified as “genocide”.

“France cannot suspend its policy of welcoming evacuated Gazans: our common humanity is at stake,” said Arthur Delaporte, spokesman for the opposition Socialist Party, on X.

Lille’s general prosecutor said Thursday that a judicial probe has been opened against the student for allegedly trying to “justify terrorism” and “justify a crime against humanity”.

Barrot confirmed she must leave France, noting that talks were ongoing to determine her destination.

– ‘Just two minutes’ –

The 25-year-old woman was due to start studying at France’s prestigious Sciences Po in the fall as part of a government scholarship programme for students from Gaza.

A French diplomatic source said the student arrived in France on July 11 on a scholarship based on “academic excellence” and after “security checks”.

But now she will have to leave the country after pro-Israel accounts on X resurfaced posts she shared in September, including an image of Adolf Hitler and words appearing to call for the death of Jews.

The account attributed to the student has been taken offline, after French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau demanded it be closed down.

AFP has not been able to independently confirm the social media posts attributed to the young woman.

Sciences Po however confirmed on Wednesday that the young woman had shared the content. It said they were in “direct contradiction” with the university’s values, without elaborating.

“The security checks carried out by the relevant state services, as well as by the Israeli authorities, did not detect these antisemitic and unacceptable comments,” Barrot said.

A spokesman for France’s far-right National Rally criticised the government’s vetting process, saying “it only took two minutes of browsing” to find the posts.

“And yet, France welcomed this individual,” said spokesman Julien Odoul on Europe 1 radio.

AFP was not immediately able to reach the student for comment. The news agency is not identifying her at this stage of the investigation.

In a July interview on broadcaster RMC, before her posts came to light, the 25-year-old had expressed her excitement about studying in France.

“I am finally in a safe space,” she said.