For much of his career, François Burgat occupied a place within the French establishment as one of the country's foremost specialists regarding the Arab world.
The veteran political scientist spent decades researching political Islam, directed French research institutes across the Middle East and North Africa, and was even called upon to share his expertise with lawmakers on terrorism-related questions.
Last week, however, the 78-year-old academic found himself on the other side of that debate when a court in Aix-en-Provence convicted him of "glorifying terrorism" over social media posts linked to Israel's genocidal war on Gaza .
The ruling has reignited a fierce debate in France over free speech, Palestine and the increasingly blurred line between combating extremism and policing political dissent.
Burgat insists his conviction is not really about him.
"My case is one of more than 800 similar cases, the overwhelming majority of which ended in convictions," he told The New Arab , arguing that France's judiciary has become a key battleground in a wider campaign against pro-Palestinian voices.
While Burgat's name has drawn attention because of his academic standing and long public profile, he says most of those facing prosecution receive little publicity.
"It must be said clearly: the privilege I possess is that my name is François, not Fatiha or Mohammed," he said.
The conviction stems largely from posts published during the first months of Israel's onslaught on the besieged Palestinian enclave, including Burgat's decision to share Hamas's rejection of unfounded allegations published by The New York Times concerning sexual violence during the 7 October attacks.
For Burgat, the court's reliance on those posts reflects a broader unwillingness within France to challenge Israeli narratives about the war.
"The court used that argument at a moment when it had become extremely fragile," he said.
The researcher points to subsequent developments, including scrutiny of aspects of the original reporting and mounting international concern over allegations of abuse against Palestinian detainees held in Israeli prisons.
"Therefore, the simplest documented facts in this case had to be distorted to convict me," he added.
The case comes at a time when rights groups, academics and pro-Palestinian activists have raised alarm over a shrinking space for debate on Palestine across France and parts of Europe.
Before Burgat's trial, advocacy groups described the proceedings as an assault on free expression and academic freedom, warning that prosecutions linked to Palestine risk creating a climate in which criticism of Israel becomes increasingly difficult to voice.
Burgat's own engagement with Palestine stretches back decades. He recalls visiting the occupied territory as a teenager, long before he became one of Europe's best-known scholars of political Islam.
"I was 16 years old when I first visited Palestine," he said. "At that time, a child standing by the roadside in Jericho told me: 'The Jews took our home'.
"I had to go to Palestine to realise that Israelis are not only people who plant flowers in the desert," he added.
Burgat accuses large sections of the French political and media establishment of reproducing Israeli talking points while marginalising Palestinian perspectives, a dynamic he believes has become more pronounced since the start of the Gaza genocide.
"The French judiciary is a mirror of society: sometimes it shows its best side, and at other times its worst," he said. "It is showing its worst side in its repression of pro-Palestinian voices."
Burgat plans to appeal the ruling and, if necessary, take the case to the European Court of Human Rights. Yet even as he prepares for a legal battle that could last years, he returns repeatedly to a point that has become central to his defence—that his conviction matters less as an individual case than as a sign of what he believes is happening to public debate on Palestine in France.
"Personally, I am only a small visible part of the iceberg," he said. "This is a dark chapter, but it is not the final chapter." This article was adapted from an interview first published by The New Arab's Arabic edition. To read the original, click here .