The French government could soon move to disband Urgence Palestine, arguably the largest and most influential collective in the country’s broader Palestine solidarity movement. Urgence Palestine was established in October 2023, shortly after the Hamas attack on southern Israel and the onset of Israel’s retaliatory invasion and blockade of the Gaza Strip. Since then, the group has emerged as a lead organizer of cease-fire demonstrations in Paris and cities across the country.

Pro-Palestine activists and politicians have long been in the crosshairs of the French government, facing protest bans, the forced cancellation of meetings, and spurious accusations of “apologism” for terrorists. Yet the Interior Ministry’s impending move to order the administrative “dissolution” of Urgence Palestine marks a significant escalation. If the order is approved in a forthcoming cabinet vote — and then upheld through appeal — it would pose a grave risk for freedom of association. In particular, it would severely hamper the ability of France’s Palestine-solidarity community to participate in political life.

A Franco-Palestinian attorney, Salah Hamouri is a spokesperson for Urgence Palestine. He was born in Jerusalem in 1985 to a French mother and a Palestinian father. Joining the Palestinian liberation movement at a young age, he has spent several years in and out of Israeli jails, but was able to pursue legal studies to become a human rights lawyer. Ultimately expelled by Israeli authorities — a move qualified as a “war crime” by United Nations officials — he moved to France in 2022. Hamouri sat down with Jacobin’s Harrison Stetler for a conversation on the latest clampdown on Palestine solidarity in France.