Raphaël Enthoven, removed from a festival in Besançon for comments on Gaza, denounces "censorship"

The day after the cancellation of his participation in a literary festival in Besançon, the philosopher denounced "censorship" on X.

The left-wing Besançon metropolitan area announced Thursday that it was canceling philosopher Raphaël Enthoven 's participation in a literary festival scheduled for September 19-21, due to the author's comments on the situation in Gaza.

"Mr. Enthoven's recent controversial statements are likely to call into question the smooth running of the 'Livres dans la boucle' literary festival," a spokesperson told AFP. "Under these circumstances, the organizer, Grand Besançon Métropole, has asked the event's service provider to cancel its appearance at the end of September," she added.

In a statement published on Wednesday, the Besançon branch of the Communist Party - a member of the municipal majority - expressed concern about the announced visit of Raphaël Enthoven, denouncing the "inadmissible remarks" he made on the social network X on August 15.

The writer - who has just published The Albatross this fall - stated: "There are NO journalists in Gaza. Only killers, fighters or hostage-takers with press cards."

The next day, he clarified, still on X: "We know of dozens of proven examples of fake 'journalists' who are in reality Hamas fighters or hostage-takers. How many examples do we have of journalists free to work in Gaza who are not linked in any way to the terrorist organization?"

Following these statements, "Raphaël Enthoven has been subjected to insults and death threats. This is obviously reprehensible," commented the PCF of Besançon. "But this should not obscure the intolerable nature of these remarks," which "simply give carte blanche to the Israeli army to shamelessly assassinate those who would want to inform and denounce its crimes," denounced the communist party.

On X this Friday, Raphaël Enthoven, addressing the mayor of Besançon, said: "We may disagree on what a journalist is (I have no doubt that we are) but there is nothing in my words that justifies the censorship of which you seem so proud."

More than 250 media outlets in 70 countries took part in an operation on Monday to denounce the number of journalists killed in Gaza , which is more than 210 according to the NGO Reporters Without Borders.