French judicial authorities have issued arrest warrants for two Franco-Israeli activists on suspicion of “complicity in genocide,” a move that could set a legal precedent by treating the obstruction of humanitarian aid as a potential international crime.

The warrants — issued in July last year — target Nili Kupfer-Naouri, associated with the group Israel Is Forever, and Rachel Touitou of the group Tsav 9, the source said, confirming a report first published by French media and relayed by Agence France-Presse. The warrants summon the two to appear before an investigating magistrate but do not call for their detention.

According to investigators, Kupfer-Naouri and Touitou are suspected of attempting to block humanitarian aid convoys bound for Gaza between January and November 2024, and again in May 2025, at the Nitzana Border Crossing and Kerem Shalom Border Crossing. Prosecutors are examining whether those actions amount to complicity in genocide, as well as “public provocation for genocide,” the source said.

Lawyers for the non-governmental organizations that filed the complaint last year say the case marks the first time a national jurisdiction has considered the deliberate obstruction of humanitarian aid as potential complicity in genocide. The complaints were submitted by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, Al-Haq, and Al-Mezan. Israel has designated Al-Haq a terrorist organization.

Kupfer-Naouri’s attorney, Olivier Pardo, rejected the accusations, describing the actions as peaceful demonstrations aimed at highlighting the diversion of aid by Hamas. Pardo said Kupfer-Naouri, who was in Israel at the time, was prepared to cooperate with French investigators from there.

In a social media post, Touitou, 34, wrote that if “peacefully demonstrating with an Israeli flag against a terrorist organization seizing humanitarian aid” constitutes a crime, “then there is no need to look down on the mullahs — France is Iran!”

In an interview with The News website, Kupfer-Naouri, 50, denounced the investigation as “antisemitic madness.”

A separate source close to the case said French authorities are considering issuing warrants for roughly 10 additional individuals in connection with the alleged aid obstruction.

The case unfolds amid a growing number of Gaza-related legal actions in French courts. Separate complaints have been filed alleging war crimes over the deaths of Franco-Palestinian children in Israeli strikes, against two Franco-Israeli soldiers who participated in military operations in Gaza, and over the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack itself.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)