Israel/Palestinian Territories (Aug. 5, 2023)

France condemns in the strongest possible terms the terrorist attack that left one person dead and several others injured in Tel Aviv on Saturday, August 5.

We also condemn the settler violence that left one Palestinian civilian dead in Burqa in the West Bank on Friday, August 4. We encourage the Israeli authorities to maintain their efforts to ensure that the perpetrators of this violence will effectively be charged.

Death of Hélène Carrère d’Encausse

The Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs pays tribute to the memory of Hélène Carrère d’Encausse, a prominent historian specialized in Russian issues who died on August 5.

Hélène Carrère d’Encausse, the first woman to be elected Perpetual Secretary of the Académie Française in 1999, chaired the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs’ Diplomatic Archives Commission for two decades. Her steadfast support for the construction of the La Courneuve site made it possible to collect, protect and promote the Diplomatic Archives’ invaluable documents for the benefit of political history and international relations.

Q&A

Late Friday night, Ukraine used a sea drone to attack a civilian ship in the Black Sea. The head of Ukraine’s SBU security service, Vasyl Malyuk, confirmed that the Russian oil tanker Sig was the target of the attack. The tanker was located in the Kerch Strait to the east of Crimea and the crew did not report being warned by the Ukrainian maritime authorities. Would the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs please comment on this incident? What is France’s position on the Ukrainian armed forces’ attacks and threats of attacks against civilian ships in the Black Sea? Do you think that the attack on the oil tanker could have caused an environmental disaster?

France expresses its deepest concern over the humanitarian, economic and environmental consequences of the war in Ukraine, for which Russia is wholly responsible.

Since the start of its aggression against Ukraine, Russia has deliberately and massively targeted civilian infrastructure, in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.

France condemns the violence that Russia has committed against civilians, as well as the Russian bombing of Ukrainian port and waterway infrastructure.

As Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna has repeatedly emphasized, these unacceptable acts are war crimes and cannot go unpunished.