France has taken another step in its multiculturalist shift by authorizing the automatic granting of asylum to any Palestinian citizen, without the need to prove individual persecution. From now on, simply being from Gaza is enough to obtain international protection. According to right-wing leaders, this decision opens the door to uncontrolled mass immigration and the potential entry of Hamas sympathizers onto European soil.
The controversy stems from a ruling issued on July 11 by the Cour Nationale du Droit d’Asile (CNDA), France’s highest court for asylum matters. The court ruled in favor of a woman and her son from Gaza, who had initially been denied asylum by the French Office for the Protection of Refugees (OFPRA) after applying in the wake of the October 7 attacks. However, the CNDA overturned that decision, arguing that due to the “systematic repression by the Israeli army,” every Gazan could be considered at risk of persecution solely based on their nationality. This legal reasoning turns collective identity into sufficient evidence for being granted refugee status.
Marine Le Pen, in strong opposition to the court’s decision, stated on her X account: “The announcement of the unconditional acceptance of all Gazans who apply under the right of asylum is pure madness. When will they stop weakening our country with dangerous ideological decisions that threaten the balance of our society? Why don’t the Gulf countries that defend Palestine agree to take in these refugees en masse?”
Meanwhile, Éric Zemmour, president of the Reconquête party, denounced this “judicial surrender” as an act of institutional “high treason.” “This is a free pass for Hamas loyalists. What’s the point of having deputies, Macron, or Bayrou? They decide nothing. The courts are running the country,” he warned in a column in Le Figaro.
Éric Ciotti, leader of the Union of the Right for the Republic and an ally of the National Rally (RN), also called the ruling a “migration and security madness” with no democratic oversight. Other conservative leaders stressed that France has no obligation to take in Gazan refugees, especially when there are dozens of Muslim countries with greater cultural affinity where they could be received.
The ruling also represents a new diplomatic slight to Israel and a symbolic gesture in favor of recognizing the Palestinian state—at a time when relations between Paris and Tel Aviv are increasingly strained.
