French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne criticized the South African government's decision to attempt to charge the State of Israel with genocide.
“Accusing the Jewish state of genocide crosses a moral threshold. The notion of genocide cannot be exploited for a political end," Sejourne told the French Parliament.
"We said this also when Russia used this claim to justify the war in Ukraine," he added.
Sejourne was appointed as Foreign Minister days ago, following the appointment of Gabriel Attal as the new Prime Minister of France last week. Attal, 34, is the youngest Prime Minister in French history.
Last week, the German government dismissed the South African accusations against Israel as “political instrumentalization” of the UN Genocide Convention that has "no basis in fact."
Earlier this month, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said that the US believes South Africa's accusations are "meritless, counterproductive, and completely without any basis in fact whatsoever."
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller was also asked about South Africa’s lawsuit and responded by saying that the US has not observed acts in Gaza that constitute genocide.
"Those are allegations that should not be made lightly ... we are not seeing any acts that constitute genocide. That is a determination by the State Department," said Miller.