Skip to content
Bramble

World

MEP Rima Hassan investigated over flags knocked down at 7 October exhibition

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola says procedures are under way after French MEP Rima Hassan was filmed apparently damaging a 7 October commemoration exhibition in Strasbourg. Hassan says she removed the Israeli flag in protest and that the EU flag fell accidentally.

2 outlets · 0L · 2C · 0R First reported Account updated
Image: RFI
Image: Anadolu Agency

1 / 2

The story, neutrally told

Centre · 2French MEP Rima Hassan of La France Insoumise (LFI) is under investigation after an incident on Monday 5 October at an exhibition in the European Parliament in Strasbourg marking three years since the 7 October 2023 Hamas attacks. Centre · 1Parliament President Roberta Metsola told lawmakers in Strasbourg on Tuesday that a member was filmed apparently damaging the exhibition, allegedly throwing the Israeli flag to the ground and dropping a flagpole so that the EU flag was knocked down, with both flags left on the ground. Centre · 2Metsola said all appropriate steps under parliamentary procedures were being taken, including the right of the person concerned to be heard.

Centre · 2Hassan's staff said that while leaving the venue she removed the Israeli flag from its stand, and that the EU flag, attached to the same base, fell accidentally through loss of balance. They said neither flag was trampled or damaged. Centre · 2Hassan said the gesture was meant to denounce what she called the ongoing genocide by the Israeli government, violations of international law and a double standard, not to target the victims or their memory. She argued that a Russian flag would not be admitted in the Parliament. Centre · 1On X, Hassan described the event as unofficial, organised with Israel's diplomatic representation and the American Jewish Committee. She said necklaces on display showed a map of Israel covering Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories, and that Israeli artist Yaron Bob, who was invited, denied that Palestine and Palestinians exist.

Centre · 1Hassan said she wrote to Metsola with her account and asked her to act on journalists' requests to release the videos, arguing that a lack of transparency could fuel fake news. Centre · 1Politicians criticised her. François-Xavier Bellamy called it complicity with those seeking to re-import antisemitic hatred, Nathalie Loiseau said LFI had plumbed the depths of indecency, and Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called it shameful and outrageous. Centre · 1Hassan, a French-Palestinian jurist elected in June 2024, has led a campaign to suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement and was detained and expelled by Israel after joining a Gaza flotilla last year.

Every sentence links to the reporting it rests on. The pill in front of each says where its sources sit: Left, Centre or Right when one side supplies at least half of them, Mixed when they are evenly split. The number is how many outlets it cites.

Left0 outlets

No left outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.

Centre2 outlets

Framing
RFI leads with the investigation and the political reaction, giving Metsola's statement and critics' condemnations alongside Hassan's denial. Anadolu leads with Hassan's own explanation and protest motives, framed around Gaza and double standards.
Emphasis
RFI: Metsola's statement, condemnation from Bellamy, Loiseau and Saar. Anadolu: Hassan's X post, the event's organisers, the map necklaces and the artist's remarks.
Leaves out or plays down
Anadolu leaves out the reactions from Bellamy, Loiseau and Saar and the allegation that the flag was thrown down. RFI omits Hassan's claims about the event's organisers, the map and the artist's remarks.
Charged language
“Hard-left”“genocide”“radical-left”“desecration”“double standards”
For example
“Hard-left French EU lawmaker Rima Hassan is facing an investigation” — RFI
“'My gesture is part of the denunciation of the ongoing genocide, of violations of international law,' says Rima Hassan” — Anadolu Agency

Right0 outlets

No right outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.