This Tuesday afternoon was particularly agitated at the National Assembly. LFI MP Sébastien Delogu brandished a Palestinian flag during the government question session, which caused an interruption of the debates. He commented on his gesture hoping that it would encourage the President of the Republic to “stop selling weapons” and to recognize the Palestinian state. The MP, who specified that it was a “personal initiative”, received a fifteen-day exclusion as a sanction.
The tumult continued in the Salle des Quatre Colonnes, where a violent verbal altercation took place between LFI deputy David Guiraud and LR Meyer Habib. “This gentleman is a pig, he shames France,” said the first, “you scum,” replied the second. The bailiffs intervened between the two men.
“The president was right. We could not remain in public session with such provocation. This is the last step in a strategy of brutalizing public debate. Sébastien Delogu prefers the strategy of political coup rather than the strategy of peace in the Middle East. It does nothing to advance peace in the Middle East,” responded MP Mathieu Lefèvre (Renaissance), president of the France-Israel friendship group.
“A priori, it’s no, but you don’t assume it”
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal had been questioned a little earlier during this session by Cyrielle Châtelain, the leader of the environmentalist deputies, on a possible recognition of a Palestinian state by France. A question that arises on the day when Spain, Ireland and Norway officially took this symbolic step. She also asked him if France was going to advocate “strong sanctions against the Israeli government” to the UN Security Council and the European Union in the face of the offensive on Rafah, in the south of the Gaza strip.
The Prime Minister did not respond on the Palestinian state. “A priori, it’s no, but you don’t assume it,” concluded the MP in her right of reply. She also denounced “a pathetic and political response” from the head of government. Gabriel Attal accused the elected official of having intervened “to call for a ceasefire without recalling that we have hostages currently detained and without clearly calling for their release”.
“With the same vigor that we call for a ceasefire, we must call for the release of all the hostages, including our French hostages,” he insisted. However, Gabrielle Châtelain began her intervention by recalling that “for more than seven months”, environmentalists had joined “the demand for the release of hostages held by Hamas terrorists”.