Faced with strong pressure from Jewish groups and Tel Aviv, Dominique Lesparre, the Communist mayor of Bezons, has been forced to remove the Nakba Lane plaque from a street that was renamed to commemorate Nakba (Catastrophe) Day, which Palestinians annually mark on May 15.
On Monday, Lesparre officially renamed a street near city hall "Allee de la Nakba" (Nakba Lane) in remembrance of more than 760,000 Palestinians who fled or were evicted from their homeland by Israeli forces 70 years ago.
In a statement, Israel's Ambassador to France Aliza Bin-Noun accused the mayor of supporting "Palestinian terrorism and inciting hate."
It was not the first time that Bezons has stirred controversy with its support of the Palestinian cause.
'Nakba Alley' signs removed from Paris suburb following complaints and vandalism https://t.co/pnDmbgmpx2
— Haaretz.com (@haaretzcom) 13 июня 2018 г.
In 2014, the town was ordered to remove a commemorative plaque for Majdi al-Rimawi, a Palestinian, serving an 80-year prison term for killing an Israeli government minister at a Jerusalem hotel in 2001.
France has seen a string of attacks on Jews in recent years, regarded as a sign of virulent anti-Semitism among members of some of the country’s neighborhoods with predominantly Muslim populations.
READ MORE: Riots Break Out in Palestinian City of Ramallah Amid 70th Anniversary of Nakba
