Editing José Bové (section)

== Controversies ==

In April 2002 Bové was at the head of an activist group arriving in the [[West Bank]] to protest the massive Israeli Army operation, [[Operation Defensive Shield]], conducted at that time, which had caused many Palestinian casualties. The group entered [[Yassir Arafat]]'s headquarters in [[Ramallah]], at the time besieged by Israeli forces. Bové joined with members of the newly established [[International Solidarity Movement]] ([[International Solidarity Movement|ISM]]), who were acting as "human shields" at the Palestinian Presidential Compound so as to deter the army from breaking in.

After spending a day in the besieged headquarters, Bové came out and was promptly arrested and deported by Israeli police. Upon his return to France, he was met by dozens of pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian demonstrators, who scuffled briefly at Paris' [[Orly Airport]].

In an interview in 2002 with TV channel Canal Plus, Bové said he believed that the wave of attacks against French synagogues was being either arranged or fabricated by [[Mossad]] (the Israeli secret service). "Who profits from the crime?" Bové asked. "The Israeli government and its secret services have an interest in creating a certain psychosis, in making believe that there is a climate of antisemitism in France, in order to distract attention from what they are doing."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aijac.org.au/review/2002/276/france_antisem.html |title=("Liberte, Egalite, Judeophobie") |publisher=Aijac.org.au |access-date=2010-06-13 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110516212717/http://www.aijac.org.au/review/2002/276/france_antisem.html |archive-date=2011-05-16 }}</ref> Considerable outrage was expressed after his remarks, and he later apologized for the statement.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/economie/fin-de-campagne_490614.html |title=Fin de campagne |publisher=Lexpress.fr |date=2004-02-27 |access-date=2010-06-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615005012/http://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/economie/fin-de-campagne_490614.html |archive-date=2011-06-15 |url-status=dead }}</ref> His visit to Arafat was denounced in a speech by the head of France's [[Conseil Représentatif des Institutions juives de France|CRIF]], an umbrella group for Jewish organisations.<ref>{{cite web|agency=Reuters |url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=256708&contrassID=3&subContrassID=0&sbSubContrassID=0 |title=1 "Report of speech by Roger Cukierman, head of CRIF" |work= Haaretz.com |access-date=2010-06-13}}</ref>

Bové has intervened to support the movements of the [[Tahiti]]ans and the [[Kanaks]], the indigenous [[Melanesia]]n people of [[New Caledonia]].  On 23 April 2004 he announced that he would join the [[People's Congress of Kurdistan]] (''Kongra-Gel''). This group has been classified as [[terrorist]] by both the European Union and the United States State Department.