{"id":2123018,"date":"2026-09-01T18:20:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T15:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2123018"},"modified":"2026-09-01T18:20:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T15:20:18","slug":"french-court-faults-deauville-city-hall-for-removing-gaza-photograph","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2123018","title":{"rendered":"French Court Faults Deauville City Hall for Removing Gaza Photograph"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/20250621-vernissage-presquile-sandrine-boyer-engel-776×518-1.webp?w=776″]<\/p>\n

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\n\tAn administrative court in Caen, France, faulted the Deauville city hall on Monday for removing a photograph taken in Gaza from a local festival, reported AFP<\/em> and Le Monde<\/em>. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe image by Associated Press photographer Jehad Alshrafi features a soccer match being played by members of the Palestinian Ahli Gaza Club on a pristine, synthetic green field, surrounded by rubble from Israeli military attacks. But in mid-August, the image was quietly taken down from an outdoor exhibition that is part of this summer\u2019s Deauville Sport Images Festival, which celebrates the \u201cvalue of sports.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe ruling effectively suspends the city hall\u2019s prior decision to nix the photograph and follows an emergency motion filed by the Observatoire de la libert\u00e9 de creation (Observatory for the freedom of creation, or OLC for short), which called for the protection of free speech and demanded the work be rehung. A lawyer representing the OLC told France 3<\/em> that the photograph, which first went on view June 6, was selected by a jury for the exhibition, as an artful example of the persistence of sports activity \u201cincluding in the most terrible of situations.\u201d<\/p>\n

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RSF d\u00e9nonce les pressions qui ont pouss\u00e9\u00a0la municipalit\u00e9 de Deauville \u00e0 retirer de l’affichage du “Sport Images Festival” une photographie de presse montrant la bande de #Gaza\u00a0ravag\u00e9e par les bombardements isra\u00e9liens. Face \u00e0 cette tentative de censure, nous partageons ici cette\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/glbPseVdBm<\/p>\n

\u2014 RSF (@RSF_inter) August 26, 2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

\n\tIn the city\u2019s defense, lawyer Marie-Th\u00e9r\u00e8se Sur-Le Liboux claimed the photograph was taken down due to a perceived risk of public unrest and an alleged \u201cwave of hatred\u201d seen on social media against the images\u2019 display. The latter, Sur-Le Liboux argued, could lead to \u201cextremely violent\u201d behavior. In a press release, the city also reportedly said that the photograph risked opening \u201cnew wounds,\u201d while also adding that it was \u201cin no way pro-Hamas,\u201d as opponents of the photograph\u2019s display apparently claimed online.<\/p>\n

\n\tHowever, the court brushed aside the city\u2019s arguments and ruled that removing Alshrafi\u2019s photograph was \u201cnot a necessary, appropriate and proportionate measure, taken to preserve public order.\u201d The image should be reinstalled before September 6, when the festival concludes, and the city must pay the OLC 1,000 euros ($1,160) in damages.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/news\/french-court-faults-deauville-ap-photograph-gaza-1234796450\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/20250621-vernissage-presquile-sandrine-boyer-engel-776×518-1.webp?w=776″] An administrative court in Caen, France, faulted the Deauville city hall on Monday for removing a photograph taken in Gaza from a local festival, reported AFP and Le Monde. The image by Associated Press photographer Jehad Alshrafi features a soccer match being played by members of the Palestinian Ahli Gaza Club on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-2123018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2123018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2123018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2123018\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2123018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2123018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2123018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}