The announcement of the arrival next week in Lyon of Salah Hamouri crystallizes the tensions. The Franco-Palestinian lawyer is expected on Wednesday to participate in a round table organized by the city on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Oslo Accords. But this Friday morning, the Chief Rabbi of Lyon announced, in protest, that he was withdrawing from the “Concorde et Solidarité” body, a group bringing together representatives of the Christian, Jewish and Muslim religions and created by the city. in 2002.
“I cannot give my moral guarantee to people who, instead of promoting peace in the city, will on the contrary stir up community tensions”, justifies Daniel Dahan in a press release.
“I do not pass judgment on Israeli justice”, defends the mayor of Lyon
Expelled on December 18 by Israel, after several months of detention, Salah Hamouri, is suspected of links – which he denies – with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), an organization deemed terrorist by the Jewish State and the ‘European Union. France had, moreover, condemned this expulsion, judging it “contrary to the law”.
“I changed places but the fight continues. (…) Today, I feel that I have a huge responsibility for my cause and my people, “said the lawyer when he arrived on French soil.
Grégory Doucet, the mayor of Lyon defended this invitation in an interview granted this Friday to the Progress. “We invite him for what he is. Someone who knows the situation in the Palestinian territories, who has spent significant time in detention (…). I do not pass judgment on Israeli justice. I’m not going to be his lawyer either (…) I offer people the opportunity to hear him. »
The court seised to request the suspension of the conference
Anxious to “show that we are not in a biased perspective”, the elected official, also criticized by part of the local right, had indicated on Wednesday that he had proposed to the representatives “of Jewish authorities or associations in Lyon” to ” invite around the table” a representative “of their choice”.
Alongside the chief rabbi’s decision, the European Jewish Organization (OJE), which fights against anti-Semitism, indicated on Friday, through the voice of its lawyer Julie Buk Lament, that it had seized the administrative court of Lyon for interim release for ask for the suspension of this conference, in the name of “the neutrality of the public service” and the participation of a “member of an organization recognized as terrorist by France and the European Union”.