French MEP Rima Hassan faces action after throwing Israeli flag to floor at 7 October exhibition

A French pro-Palestinian MEP is facing possible disciplinary action after removing an Israeli flag from an exhibition marking three years since the 7 October Hamas attacks and leaving it on the floor of the European Parliament.

Rima Hassan, an MEP for the left-wing La France Insoumise party, has admitted removing the flag but disputes parts of the account of what happened at the exhibition in Strasbourg on Monday.

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said the incident was being taken “extremely seriously” and vowed that “all appropriate steps” would be taken, while Parliament officials confirmed an investigation is under way.

Israeli artist Yaron Bob, a 7 October survivor whose work featured in the exhibition, told Jewish News he was left “offended and enraged”.

“The Parliament member Hassan forcefully tries to create mayhem and conflict,” he said.

Bob was invited to take part in the exhibition to commemorate three years since the attacks. His work included a sculpture of a hand holding a broken olive branch, made from rocket shells and concrete from tunnels in Gaza to represent the suffering and loss caused by war.

“My work focuses on turning darkness into light,” he said.

Bob said Hassan approached the exhibition with an assistant and questioned why an Israeli flag was on display.

“Hassan came with her assistant, but she didn’t introduce herself. They tried to create a cheap provocation. While her assistant talked to me, she asked why there was an Israeli flag here. I said that I represent Israel regarding 7 October here.

“She started to yell that Israel does not exist, that Israel is an occupied state. I said that if she doesn’t recognise Israel’s existence, then I don’t recognise Palestine’s existence. She left in fury as her assistant tried to explain that it wasn’t personal.

“Then Hassan took the Israeli flag and threw it on the floor, knocking the EU flag too. She just walked above them without lifting them.”

Hassan has given a different account of parts of the confrontation.

In a seven-point statement posted on X, she said: “As I was leaving, I removed the Israeli flag from its stand. The European Union flag, attached to the same base, fell due to the imbalance. No flag was trampled, damaged or thrown away.”

She also accused Bob of denying the existence of Palestine and Palestinians during their exchange, claiming he had said: “Palestine does not exist. It is like a chimaera, like unicorns,” and “there are no Palestinian refugees, nor Palestinians.”

Hassan said her action was part of her opposition to what she called the “ongoing genocide”, violations of international law and an “incessant and unbearable double standard”.

“This gesture in no way targeted the commemorated persons or their memory,” she said.

She also described the exhibition as an “unofficial event” involving Israel’s diplomatic representation and the American Jewish Committee. Hassan criticised the necklaces on display, which she said featured a map of Israel encompassing Gaza and the occupied territories.

Hassan said she had written to Metsola setting out her version of events and asking for video footage to be made public “so as not to let opacity fuel fake news”.

Metsola addressed the incident in Parliament, saying a member had been filmed “apparently damaging an exhibition commemorating the victims of the terrorist attack in Israel on 7 October.”

“The person concerned was seen allegedly throwing the flag of Israel to the ground, dropped a flagpole, and the European Union flag was knocked down. Both flags were left lying on the ground before the Member left the scene,” she said.

“I want to underline that we take this extremely seriously and that all the appropriate steps according to our procedures are being taken, including the right of the person concerned to be heard.”

Metsola said the Parliament must remain a place where everyone feels safe.

“This House is a place where all of us must feel safe and secure. And we reject in the strongest possible terms any action by any person that makes anyone feel less protected here.

“We cannot have actions like this. We cannot have actions that could make people fearful of speaking. We cannot have damage to property, and we cannot have attempts to intimidate rather than to debate.”

She added: “At a time of rising global antisemitism, we owe it to Europe’s Jewish community to ensure that when they look to us, they see that this is their house too.”

Referring to the 7 October anniversary, Metsola said Parliament would “remember the victims with the dignity that they deserve”.

Hassan could face a reprimand, temporary suspension from Parliament’s activities or the loss of her €350 daily allowance for up to 60 days, according to Euronews.

The European Jewish Congress said it was “appalled” by reports of the incident and called for disciplinary action if the allegations were confirmed.

“These flags formed part of a memorial to the victims of the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and to those abducted by Hamas,” it said.

“To deliberately interfere with such a memorial, on the eve of the anniversary of the attacks, would show a profound contempt for their memory and for the suffering of their families.”

It added: “The victims of 7 October and the hostages deserve dignity and respect. Their memory must never become a target for political provocation.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar described the incident as “shameful, outrageous, but sadly not surprising”.

He accused Hassan of the “desecration of the exhibition commemorating the victims of 7 October” and thanked Metsola “for her determination and for making clear that such an offence will be dealt with in the strongest terms”.

For Bob, the exhibition had a deeply personal significance.

He lives in Yated, a village in the Gaza Envelope which he said faced three major attacks on 7 October.

“We were hiding in shelters for 33 hours without electricity or communication,” he said.

“During the second attack by Hamas terrorists, our village’s response team managed to arrest and interrogate them, and they revealed that another 120 terrorists were hiding in our greenhouses.”

Bob said Israeli forces fought the terrorists the following day and that detailed intelligence about homes in the village was subsequently discovered.

“The army fought them on 8 October, when detailed intel was found about every house in the village, including which houses have dogs; this information was gathered by Gazans who worked here,” he said.

Hassan, 34, is a French-Palestinian lawyer and activist who was born in the Neirab Palestinian refugee camp near Aleppo, Syria, and moved to France as a child. She was elected to the European Parliament in 2024 and sits with The Left group.

Israel denied her entry in 2025, citing her support for a boycott campaign against the country. Months later, she joined Greta Thunberg aboard a Gaza-bound flotilla, which was intercepted by Israeli authorities. Hassan was detained and later deported.

The incident came as the European Parliament marked three years since the Hamas-led 7 October attacks, in which 1,200 people were killed in Israel, and 251 were taken hostage.