François Picard is pleased to welcome Thibault Muzergues, political director for Shared Ground and author of "The Woke Right". France enters the final 300 days before its presidential election amid a politically combustible convergence of judicial investigations, institutional distrust and an increasingly fragmented party system. Muzergues argues that while allegations surrounding the far-right National Rally party raise legitimate legal questions, they also expose broader tensions between law, democracy and political legitimacy.

Read moreFrance's National Rally targeted as part of Europe-wide raids over alleged far-right embezzlement

Our guest rejects simplistic narratives of either persecution or impunity. Instead, he contends that the deeper story in France lies in the interaction between increasingly complex institutions, a transformed electoral landscape organised around three competing blocs (liberal, nationalist, new left) and a public mood that favours political outsiders over traditional liberal parties.

Far from seeing judicial affairs as likely to reshape electoral outcomes, Muzergues suggests that campaign dynamics, leadership and voter enthusiasm will ultimately prove more decisive than courtroom verdicts.

In this edition, FRANCE 24's François Picard talks with Dr. Gershon Baskin, Middle East Director of the International Communities Organisation and former hostage negotiator. One thousand days after the outbreak of the Gaza war, Gershon Baskin shares a stark assessment of Israel's political and strategic trajectory. Rather than framing the anniversary solely as a military milestone, he argues that it represents a profound failure of political leadership, strategic planning and institutional accountability.

Baskin's analysis moves beyond battlefield developments to examine the deeper dynamics shaping the conflict: the absence of a national inquiry into October 7, the growing disconnect between military operations and political objectives, the psychological distance separating Israelis and Palestinians and the failure of Israeli politics to seriously confront the Palestinian question.

He also advances an explicitly strategic – rather than purely moral – argument for peace: Israel's long-term security and Palestinian freedom are mutually dependent. An emerging regional economic agenda, backed by Gulf states and potentially driven by an influential American administration, could create a rare opening for a negotiated two-state settlement, he adds. Whether one agrees with his conclusions or not, he offers a comprehensive critique of prevailing assumptions and a vision that reframes peace as a geopolitical necessity.

François Picard is pleased to welcome Volker Türk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. In this wide-ranging interview, Türk presents a coherent vision of human rights as the essential framework through which to understand some of the defining global challenges of the 21st century. Rather than treating migration, climate change, nationality, international law and institutional governance as separate policy questions, Türk argues that they are deeply interconnected manifestations of a broader crisis of solidarity, legality and political responsibility.

The UN human rights chief consistently shifts the discussion away from short-term political pressures and towards universal principles grounded in international law, empirical evidence and shared humanity.

Whether discussing anti-immigrant sentiment, the treatment of asylum seekers, climate responsibility or the weakening of multilateral institutions, Türk returns to a recurring proposition: societies become more stable, not less, when they resist dehumanisation and uphold universal rights.

At the same time, he warns that political polarisation, environmental degradation and the erosion of international institutions risk undermining the very legal and moral architecture designed to protect future generations.