France refuses to evacuate woman convicted of embezzling terror funds from Gaza

French President Emmanuel Macron looks down next to French Foreign and European Affairs Minister Catherine Colonna during an international humanitarian conference for civilians in Gaza, at the Elysee Presidential Palace, in Paris, France, on November 9, 2023.

The French Council of State, which acts as the French government’s legal advisor, ruled in favor of blocking a French woman from receiving an exit pass from Gaza, on Wednesday, due to her conviction of funding terrorist organizations.

Yasmine Znaïdi was sentenced to six years imprisonment in absentia in 2019 for embezzling funds for terrorist organizations, according to Le Figaro.

Funds meant to provide medicine and medical equipment for Syrian civilians, were instead redirected to help jihadists in the Idlib region of Syria.

She was also accused of having provided funding for Hamas and Islamic Jihad between 2012 and 2013.

Znaïdi has had an international arrest warrant in her name since 2016, when she fled to Gaza where she has since lived, according to the AFP.

HAMAS LEADER Ismail Haniyeh (right) and Palestinian Islamic Jihad chief Ziyad al-Nakhalah attend a meeting of Palestinian factions, in Beirut, in 2020. (credit: AZIZ TAHER/REUTERS)

HAMAS LEADER Ismail Haniyeh (right) and Palestinian Islamic Jihad chief Ziyad al-Nakhalah attend a meeting of Palestinian factions, in Beirut, in 2020. (credit: AZIZ TAHER/REUTERS)

French court orders consulate to comply

When the war broke out in October she requested a consular pass to leave Gaza via Egypt. She requested the pass for herself and her three-year-old son, her other two children were killed in the bombing, according to Le Figaro.

In December a Parisian court ordered the French consulate to give her a pass as to do otherwise would violate the rights of her son, saying “The failure of the French State constitutes a serious and manifestly illegal attack on the dignity of the human person and the rights of their child.”

The French Council of State ruled in favor of the French Foreign Ministry, canceling the decision of the Parisian court due to the lack of French jurisdiction saying “Inclusion on the list of names of people to be evacuated must be handed over to the Israeli and Egyptian authorities to be validated by them, such steps do not fall within the sole competence of the French State but ‘require the engaging in negotiations with foreign governments or are inseparable from them’.”

This case is similar to the case of Shamima Begum, the British schoolgirl who joined ISIS and lost her citizenship as a result. In that case, there were similar considerations about violating the rights of her child, however, all of her children died before any ruling was made.