the essential
The MEP was present alongside the rebellious leader on Sunday evening, after the announcement of the first results of the legislative elections. Her outfit particularly attracted attention.
The image caused a lot of reaction. Shortly after the announcement of the first results of the legislative elections on Sunday, June 30, the leader of La France Insoumise, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, spoke. At his side was, among others, Rima Hassan, recently elected to the European Parliament. The Franco-Palestinian lawyer, a human rights activist, wore a keffiyeh on her shoulders. A detail that caused a huge reaction on the web. Some say they saw it as a “provocation” on the part of the young woman.
“I think there was a bit of provocation on his part, we should ask him,” reacted the Green MP Sandrine Rousseau on the set of -. Anne-Yvonne Le Dain, former Socialist MP, even got carried away in a comment on a publication by Rima Abdul-Malak, confusing the former Minister of Culture with Rima Hassan. She criticizes the latter for having shown herself “very prominently alongside [Jean-Luc] Mélenchon, Palestinian scarf on his shoulders”. Anne-Yvonne Le Dain has since deleted her post.
Traditional clothing that has become a symbol of a struggle
Rima Hassan was already wearing the same keffiyeh earlier on Sunday, when she voted in Montreuil. The MEP did not seem bothered by the comments about her outfit. The day after the controversy, she posted a photo of herself on X, posed at a window wearing a skirt with the same pattern as the traditional Palestinian fabric. “Me in front of all the comments about wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh,” she wrote in the caption.
The young lawyer also published a link to an article recalling the meaning of the garment, which has become a true “symbol of Palestinian resistance”. The keffiyeh, a white fabric with geometric patterns, is often associated with Palestine and the Palestinian struggle. However, there are different variations in other neighboring countries in the Middle East. Its Palestinian version was notably worn by figures of the cause such as Yasser Arafat, leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Originally, the fabric was “traditionally” the “peasants’ headdress”, states the online media Orient XXI, before becoming a “symbol of the Palestinian struggle since the great revolt of the 1930s against the British mandate”, adds Rima Hassan. This symbol persisted when the Palestinian flag was banned in Gaza and the West Bank in the late 1960s. Today, it is also worn by some as a sign of solidarity with the Palestinian cause.
A little reading on the history of the Palestinian keffiyeh, symbol of the Palestinian struggle since the great revolt of the 1930s against the British mandate. Israel did not exist. https://t.co/BTh3IndxpU
— Rima Hassan (@RimaHas) https://twitter.com/RimaHas/status/1807655680985149494?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
\ud83d\udd34 Mathilde Panot: “On stage, Rima Hassan wore a keffiyeh. It is a fabric symbolizing the Palestinian cause, while the massacres continue in Palestine.
What is the problem? I don’t understand the point of such controversy.
Whether in Palestine or in… pic.twitter.com/GDrr8lSU96
— Insubordination (@L_insoumission) https://twitter.com/L_insoumission/status/1807704262199103500?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Asked whether wearing this garment on election night was a good idea, Mathilde Panot defended Rima Hassan. “What is the problem?” asked the rebellious MP. Rima Hassan is wearing a Palestinian fabric that symbolises the Palestinian cause at a time when there is a massacre that the UN condemns as a risk of genocide. I find it incredible that such a controversy could arise,” she continued.
