The Collège de France has cancelled a symposium on Palestine scheduled for Thursday to Friday, “in response to the controversy surrounding the event,” its administrator announced in a statement on Sunday. “The administrator of the Collège de France, as head of the institution, responsible for the safety of property and people as well as the smooth running of events held on the Collège de France premises, feels obliged to cancel the event ,” the statement read.
The Collège de France “does not advocate, encourage, or support any form of activism ,” the institution stated, asserting its “strict neutrality (…) with regard to questions of a political or ideological nature .” In a statement on X, the Minister of Higher Education, Philippe Baptiste, described the cancellation as “responsible . ” “Defending academic freedom means defending a free, respectful, and pluralistic debate. This is the message I conveyed to the administrator of the Collège de France over the past few days ,” he affirmed.
By cancelling the event, “the Collège de France has chosen responsibility over bias, academic rigor over ideological caricature ,” rejoiced Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF). “Philippe Baptiste, Minister of Academic Censorship,” reacted far-left MEP Rima Hassan on X.
“Perversion”
The conference, entitled “Palestine and Europe: The Weight of the Past and Contemporary Dynamics ,” and co-organized by historian Henry Laurens and the Arab Center for Research and Political Studies in Paris (CAREP Paris), had been described as a “pro-Palestinian” event by several prominent figures. The International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism (LICRA) denounced it as an “anti-Zionist circus” and referred to the “perversion of a prestigious institution .” The association announced on Friday that it would be contacting the Minister of Higher Education.
The event was to bring together several researchers from Carep, including its Paris-based director, Salam Kawakibi. Funded by the Doha Institute and the NGO Qatar Charity, this research institute is described by several academic sources to Le Figaro as “the intellectual spearhead of the Muslim Brotherhood .” The scientific advisory board of Carep includes François Burgat, a researcher from Iremam (Institute for Research and Studies on the Arab and Muslim World): “François Burgat, along with Bertrand Badie, who also worked with Carep, largely contributed to ‘cleaning’ the research world of profiles deemed too pro-Israel,” notes a French academic familiar with this field of research. “Little by little, they came to believe that any criticism of Islamism actually stemmed from pro-Zionist sentiment. And they wield considerable influence at the Quai d’Orsay (the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and have contributed to shaping France’s pro-Arab policy.”
“I have infinitely, I mean infinitely more respect and consideration for the leaders of Hamas than for those of the State of Israel ,” François Burgat notably wrote on his X account in 2024, as noted by Le Point , which devoted an article to the controversies surrounding the organization of this colloquium.
A closing round table was also to bring together Josep Borrell, former High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and former Vice-President of the European Commission, Dominique de Villepin, former Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Francesca Albanese, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967.
