00:00Now we can move on as the French MEP of Palestinian origin, Rima Hassan, is facing an investigation
00:06after the Israeli and European Union flags were allegedly thrown to the floor at a commemoration
00:11for the 2023 Hamas attacks that set off the Gaza war that took place this week in Strasbourg.
00:17Our French correspondent, Maya de la Boum, actually spoke to her yesterday in Strasbourg
00:20and joins us now for an update. What does she have to say?
00:23So let's first remind our viewers of the facts. Rima Hassan is a French MEP from the left-wing
00:31France unbound and she is primarily seen in France as a fierce supporter of the Palestinian cause and
00:38that is also what made her extremely controversial in France. So to remind the facts, on Monday she
00:44was accused of removing an Israeli flag from an exhibit commemorating the October 7th attacks.
00:51So she has since then confirmed that she had removed this flag, but she also argued that
00:59it was not an act of violence and it was primarily directed against the Israeli government and not
01:06the victims. However, we spoke to Joshua Zarca and you spoke to him, the Israeli ambassador to Paris,
01:13and he had very strong comments to make, very harsh comments. She called her a terrible person.
01:20We see it on screen now. He told Euronews. She openly supports Hamas. This is a terrible person.
01:27Our embassy and the president of the European Parliament are in dialogue with the purpose of
01:32making sure that Mrs. Rima Hassan faces the charges she needs to face. So as you said, Maeve,
01:39I interviewed Rima Hassan yesterday and she also had very strong comments to make and a strong reaction
01:46to make to the Israeli ambassador. Let's take a listen.
01:55First of all, it is worth remembering that the Israeli ambassador acts as a spokesperson for the
02:00Israeli authorities. This is therefore the official line of the Israeli authorities. I do not therefore
02:05expect much that is relevant, or even I would say intelligent, from an Israeli ambassador at this
02:11stage, given the current situation. On the issue of the conflict spilling over, Mr. Zarca seems to be
02:17unaware of the European Parliament's agenda. We hold debates, discussions and negotiations on texts
02:22relating to the situation in the region on a very regular basis, almost every month in plenary.
02:27On the issues of actions, specifically the act of taking down an Israeli flag, which has been
02:32highlighted, I maintain that I am absolutely opposed to the Israeli embassy being invited into the
02:37European Parliament, in the same way that the Russian embassy has absolutely no authorisation
02:42to come and organise or co-organise events that a Russian ambassador cannot come and address
02:47Parliament, and that there is no platform for them to do so.
02:54Were you able to check the footage, the CCTV footage, of what happened on Monday?
03:00I saw them this morning with the Speaker of Parliament. I was received this morning by the Speaker of
03:05Parliament. Listen, it's very clear. I even asked for these images to be made available to the press
03:10so that you could see them for yourselves. You can see me, rather softly, taking the Israeli flag down
03:16from the stand on which it was mounted. And a few seconds later, the sand actually tipped over because
03:21it was unbalanced. And that is how the European flag ended up falling. But none of the flags were
03:25trampled on, thrown about or damaged. And this was confirmed by the footage I reviewed this morning in
03:31her presence. Right. But looking back, wouldn't it be wiser to use words rather than this type of
03:39action to express a disagreement?
03:43What I have observed is that on all other issues, the Democratic Republic of the Congo,
03:48Sudan, all the issues I've worked on, we have had no difficulty in obtaining texts. Indeed,
03:54we have even secured majorities to pass resolutions effectively condemned what was happening in this or that
03:59region of the world. The only issue is that it is literally censored. And I mean censored because we
04:05have debates, but no texts, no meaningful action is the Palestinian question. So sometimes, you know,
04:10a political mandate can be accompanied by an activist gesture, a symbolic gesture.
04:15I'd like to pick up on that precisely because we know that you're a very strong advocate
04:21for the Palestinian cause. We've seen it many times and you've demonstrated it on Monday.
04:26But how exactly do you ensure that this advocacy does not, in fact, end up placing the burden of
04:34responsibility for the Israeli government's actions on French Jews?
04:45Well, you just have to listen to me. I never talk, if you like, about individual responsibility on
04:50anyone's part. My political target is the state of Israel, and it is the fact that our Union of States,
04:56the European Union, our institutions and our leaders are failing to take their share of
05:01responsibility to ensure that international law is upheld. The commemoration of the victims of the 7th
05:06of October is a noble cause. I took part in it myself. In the parliament, we paid tribute to
05:11these families of the hostages whom we welcomed during a plenary session. If you like, I am always
05:16present at all official commemorations. It is simply that these commemorations, or at least this
05:21particular event, was an unofficial event organized by the European Parliament in partnership with the
05:27Israeli embassy and the AGC organization, which has been singled out in NGO reports for promoting
05:34settlement activity. This point is entirely open to question. In other words, commemorating the
05:39victims of 7th October is one thing, but not in partnership with the Israeli government,
05:43not in partnership with the Israeli authorities.
