French-Palestinian MEP candidate faces online criticism
French-Palestinian lawyer Rima Hassan faced an onslaught of online attacks and explicit condemnation from politicians after left-wing political party La France Insoumise (LFI), also known as France Unbowed, published their list proposal for the European elections on March 6th.
The list ranked Hassan 7th, suggesting that she is likely to earn a seat in parliament if her party wins more than 5% of votes.
Hassan was born to a Palestinian family in the Syrian refugee camp Neirab before moving to France at nine. She worked for France’s national asylum court for six years and founded the Observatory of Refugee Camps, a non-profit that monitors refugee camp conditions, in 2019.
READ: France condemns Israel’s “policy of terror”in the West Bank
Since appearing in a TikTok interview with @lecrayonmedia on November 29th where she urged viewers to advocate for the “decolonization of Palestine and the liberation of Palestinian people from all forms of oppression of which they are victims,” she became the center of controversy online.
She added that it was “true” that Hamas was taking legitimate action and “false” that Israel had a right to defend itself after the October 7th attacks. Hassan later criticized Le Crayon for cutting the interview in a way that significantly altered her responses.
Since the publication of LFI’s list, online negativity targeting Hassan has increased.
On March 8th, member of the National Assembly for the 1st constituency of Paris and Renaissance Group leader Sylvain Maillard told French channel CNews that Hassan “symbolizes the ideas promoted by Hamas” and is “clearly anti-semitic.”
Similarly, Member of the European Parliament Nathalie Loiseau referred to LFI’s “dirty little patronage” on Sud Radio, adding that the party “plays with what they believe, with great contempt, to be a French Muslim electorate” presumed “favorable to Hamas.”
READ: US and France slam Israel’s Gaza settlement idea
The campaign against Hassan was picked up by French conservative weekly Le Point, which called her “anti-Israel” in an article’s headline. Far-right website Le Causeur also criticized her as a lawyer who “does not seem to have mastered her discipline [and] forgets that her words have a precise meaning,” also stating that LSI will allow Hamas to “enter European Parliament.”
Hassan undoubtedly joined LFI due to its stance on Palestine, which advocates for the ceasefire in Gaza and two-state solution. On March 9th, multiple party figures, including Hassan, called on the European Union to implement sanctions against Israel to reach a ceasefire in Gaza.
Following Hassan’s amassed negativity on social media, LFI coordinator Manuel Bompard took to X with a video of him speaking in defense of her on Le Grand Jury, captioning it “enough of the lies about Rima Hassan.”
According to the “The Popular Union Until Victory” adopted following the Representative Assembly of December 2023, LFI’s list awaits approval through an online vote ending at noon on March 15th.
