Palestine is a European issue": European Parliament candidate Rima Hassan

Paris, France – French-Palestinian activist and lawyer Rima Hassan, a leftist candidate in the upcoming European Parliament elections, has been under political and media scrutiny in France as Israel's war on Gaza continues.

Born stateless in April 1992 in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, Hassan arrived in France with her family when she was nine. She obtained French nationality at 18 and pursued a master’s degree in international law, writing her thesis on apartheid in South Africa and Israel; groups such as Amnesty International and experts have long accused Israel of committing apartheid.

Hassan founded the Observatory of Refugee Camps in 2019 and the Action Palestine France collective after October 7, when Palestinian group Hamas led an incursion into southern Israel, which sharply escalated the historic conflict.

After 1,139 people were killed and more than 200 taken captive in early October, Israeli bombing has killed more than 36,400 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian enclave governed by Hamas.

Now a candidate for the left-wing La France insoumise (LFI), or France Unbowed party, in the upcoming European Parliament elections, Hassan has faced criticism for her party’s stance on the conflict in Gaza.

LFI has called for a ceasefire and condemned both Israel and Hamas. But after October 7, Mathilde Panot, president of the left-wing party, cast the Hamas assault as an “armed offensive by Palestinian forces” – a comment which saw her summoned by police for allegedly inciting “terrorism”. Hassan herself was asked to explain her use of a Palestinian slogan, “From the river to the sea“; ultimately no charges were brought.

Many news channel's interviewed Hassan about France and the wider European community’s response to the war in Gaza, her personal experience as a Palestinian politician in France, and the upcoming European Parliament elections.