While Paris celebrated the anniversary of the 2024 Olympics opening ceremony, with a renewed illumination of the giant balloon that lit the Olympic cauldron, Amnesty International managed to disrupt the festivities and transform the event into a political stage against Israel.
A laser projector from a building on Rivoli Street displayed the provocative message on the balloon "Stop Génocide à Gaza" ("Stop the genocide in Gaza"). The projection took place around 10:30 p.m., witnessed by spectators and official guests who were surprised by the blatant political display. According to the organization, the projection aimed to "remind of the fate of the civilian population in Gaza."
Anne Savinel-Barras, president of Amnesty International in France, said in a media statement that "we can no longer stand by" and accused Israel of violating international law. She even claimed that "Israel uses hunger as a weapon of war."
Israel is continuing to use starvation as a method of warfare, a war crime, and as a tool to commit genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip.
The harrowing suffering of starving Palestinians in Gaza, including our own colleagues, on an hourly basis, is… pic.twitter.com/AfUlgb8jc6
— Amnesty International (@amnesty) July 22, 2025
Anti-Israeli organizations and hostile leaders such as Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan continue to accuse Israel of genocide – accusations that the State of Israel completely rejects, noting that this is a coordinated campaign designed to blacken its image and break its legitimacy for self-defense.
The operation in Gaza has continued for more than 21 months, following the murderous terror attack carried out by Hamas on October 7, 2023, in which 1,219 Israelis were killed – most of them civilians, women, children, and elderly – and 251 civilians and soldiers were kidnapped to the Strip.
