The rector of the University of Glasgow, Ghassan Abu Sittah, who was to tell the Senate about his experience as a doctor in Gaza since the Israeli offensive, is prevented from entering France on Saturday after being refused entry to German territory in April, he announced in a message on X.
“I am at Charles De Gaulle airport. They are preventing me from entering France. I am supposed to speak in the French Senate today (Saturday),” he wrote. “They say the Germans banned my entry into Europe for a year,” he added.
I am at Charles De Gaule airport. They are preventing me from entering France. I am supposed to speak at the French Senate today. They say the Germans put a 1 year ban on my entry to Europe.
— Ghassan Abu Sitta (@GhassanAbuSitt1) May 4, 2024
Inter
Germany wanted to prevent any anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli propaganda.
A police source confirmed to AFP that a “Schengen area ban form” issued by Germany prevented his entry into Paris. In mid-April, Dr Abu Sittah was banned from entering Germany, as was former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis. Both were to participate in a “Palestinian Congress” in Berlin, which the German police put an end to an hour after it started.
Questioned about Yanis Varoufakis, German authorities justified this measure by their desire “to prevent any anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli propaganda”. In a video broadcast the same day on X, Dr Abu Sittah then mentioned being banned from German territory “for the entire month of April”. He also denounced “the repression of freedom of expression in Germany”, a country according to him “accomplice (of the Israeli army, Editor’s note) in silencing witnesses to the genocide” in Gaza.
According to a French government source, if a person is reported for “non-admission” in the Schengen Information System by a member country, they are not authorized to enter all Schengen area countries.
“We are in discussions with the cabinets of Gérald Darmanin and that of Stéphane Séjourné”
Dr. Ghassan Abu Sittah, who spent 43 days treating in Gaza, notably in the al-Chifa hospital, was to participate in a conference in the Senate, organized by environmentalist senator Raymonde Poncet Monge. “Scandalous, @GhassanAbuSitt1 plastic and reconstructive surgeon who intervened in #Gaza is prevented from participating in a conference at the @senat,” reacted Guillaume Gontard, president of the environmental group in the Senate, on X.
“We are in discussions with the cabinet of Gérald Darmanin and that of Stéphane Séjourné”, the Ministers of the Interior and Foreign Affairs, he affirmed, nevertheless believing that he would “probably” be sent back to Great Britain even though he has a ticket return for Saturday evening.
The Senate, as an institution, is not at the origin of the event but political groups are free to organize the conferences of their choice. Israeli forces withdrew in early April from al-Chifa hospital, where they said they had fought Palestinian fighters in a two-week operation. A WHO-led mission reported on April 6 that a hospital had been reduced to an “empty shell” strewn with human remains.