A tense question/answer session. Mathilde Panot (LFI) was present this Tuesday at a press conference at the National Assembly to discuss the conflict between Hamas and Israel, three days after the deadly attack by the Palestinian terrorist organization. When asked by a journalist whether Hamas was a terrorist organization, the leader of the Rebels in the Assembly kicked in.
“It is a military branch that is responsible for war crimes. I answered on terrorist, you will be satisfied with my answer on this question”, replied the MP for Val-de-Marne, accused by the journalist of using “double talk”.
“We condemn all war crimes”
“I have no double standards,” defended Mathilde Panot, then leaving the stage. “We will not change one iota our position, which is that of the supporters of peace,” the politician declared earlier during this press conference, while adding. “We condemn all war crimes, which aim at terror, so we can call it terrorist.”
In view of the press conference and the response during the relaunch on Hamas, deputies reacted. “Unacceptable. Hamas is a terrorist organization. Not the regular Palestinian army,” responded on (ex-Twitter) the first secretary of the PS Olivier Faure. “By not naming Hamas as a terrorist group, but as an armed force that commits war crimes, LFI legitimizes Hamas and its modes of action,” also declared MP Jérôme Guedj, already very critical of Hamas. LFI (without naming them) on a few days ago.
All these reactions, particularly from left-wing political partners, pushed Mathilde Panot to clarify on. “It seems that 10 seconds of press conference takes precedence over 20 minutes of my remarks. So I say it again: Hamas has committed war crimes aimed at terrorizing civilian populations. We condemn them,” the MP wrote, before also condemning the siege of Gaza.