A prominent pro-Palestinian activist and critic of Israel, Hassan was previously questioned by French authorities after describing the Oct. 7 attack as “legitimate.”
By Shula Rosen
French MEP François-Xavier Bellamy accused fellow lawmaker Rima Hassan of knocking Israeli and European Union flags to the floor at the European Parliament during a commemoration of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and called for her to face immediate sanctions.
The flags had been displayed outside the Parliament’s hemicycle alongside photographs of victims of the October 7, 2023, attack, according to Le Figaro.
Images circulated on social media later showed both flags on the corridor floor, still attached to their stands.
Bellamy, an LR lawmaker, raised the incident Monday during a formal address in the chamber.
A prominent pro-Palestinian activist and critic of Israel, Hassan was previously questioned by French authorities after describing the Oct. 7 attack as “legitimate.”
Sources close to the MEP said eyewitness accounts and Parliament CCTV footage corroborated his version of events.
“Tonight, on the occasion of a commemoration of Oct. 7, in front of the photos of the victims, @RimaHas threw the European flag and the Israeli flag to the ground. The message is perfectly clear. The condemnation must be as well,” Bellamy wrote on X.
He described the alleged act as an “indignity” and said it amounted to “complicity with those who seek to import anti-Semitic hatred again.”
Bellamy urged the European Parliament’s presidency to impose sanctions.
European lawmakers Nathalie Loiseau and Pina Picierno also criticized Hassan over the alleged incident.
Hassan, a French-Palestinian activist and member of the left-wing France Unbowed party, was elected to the European Parliament in 2024.
She had not publicly responded to the allegations as of late Monday, according to Le Figaro.
Dozens of French lawmakers have sought to have her parliamentary immunity lifted.
About 1,200 people, most of them civilians, were killed when Hamas-led terrorists attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and about 250 people were taken hostage. The European Union designates Hamas a terrorist organization.
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