“Israel even bombs the dead in cemeteries”: Palestinian Ambassador Hala Abou-Hassira interviewed by the National Assembly

The Palestinian Ambassador, Hala Abou-Hassira, was interviewed by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Assembly on the morning of Wednesday, November 20. The opportunity to alert the representatives of groups and deputies present about the ongoing massacre, to discuss a future recognition of the Palestinian state by France and to respond to accusations of anti-Semitism, which have become omnipresent for more than a year .

The representative of the Palestinian Authority in France began her speech by recalling the crimes of which the Israeli government is accused, such as the ecocide committed in the Gaza Strip, “a few days before the COP in Baku”. While “60% of agricultural land there is unusable”destroyed by repeated bombings and “toxic chemicals released” by the latter, the Gaza Strip is buried under nearly “45 million tons of debris”.

Tense exchanges and attacks from MPs

“The notion that scares me is that of futuricide, or the erasure of beings, places and historyshe adds. Systematic destruction destroys all possibilities for the future. Israel has moved beyond futuricide. Israel even bombs the dead in cemeteries. » The hearing, led by the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Modem MP Bruno Fuchs, was above all the scene of tense exchanges and attacks from several MPs.

Like when Caroline Yadan, deputy for French people living abroad, particularly from Israel and the Middle East region, attacked the “known and deep roots of evil” which, according to her, led Hamas to commit October 7. According to the member of the Ensemble pour la République group and author of a bill aimed at criminalizing any criticism of Israel, this would be a mixture of “dehumanization, unspeakable sexual abuse, barbarity, Islamic fanaticism and the desire for genocidal extermination of the Jewish people”.

But also comparisons without real basis, as when the president of the LIOT group, Laurent Mazaury drew a parallel between the conflict between Palestine and Israel and that between France and Germany, during the Second World War: “Do you think, Madam Ambassador, that the Palestinian authority that you represent before us is capable of bringing together competent and non-corruptible men and women, capable of convincing the Palestinian people that it is necessary to rebuild a state turned towards the future and less towards the past? As France and Germany knew how to do and did it under the leadership of General de Gaulle and Chancellor Konrad Adenauer”he asked himself. “I recall that reconciliation between Germany and France began after peace and after the end of the German occupation of France”retorted Hala Abou-Hassira.

The National Rally (RN) deputy, Sébastien Chenu, for his part, after criticizing the socialist deputy François Hollande on his speaking time, “denied” the apologies pronounced by the environmentalist MP Sabrina Sebaihi a few minutes earlier, on behalf of the French people. “If France has failed, it is with regard to Israel”he said, in asserted support for the far-right policies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Voices were nevertheless raised to condemn the actions of the Israeli army.

For example, when the rebellious MP Sophia Chikirou recalled that, “according to a report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, published in March 2024, Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories have even experienced record expansion since October 2023”.

Likewise, the secretary of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Jean-Paul Lecoq, protested against the “state terrorism policy” undertaken by the Israeli government. “When we see pagers compared to the Lebanesewe say to ourselves that having anticipated to this extent – ​​well before October 7 – the fact of being able to kill without measuring things… Do you have a little confidence and hope left? »he asked the Palestinian ambassador to France.

The latter having affirmed, several tens of minutes earlier, that “We are faced with the most fascist Israeli government in the history of Israel, which is endangering the foundations of peace ». While a ceasefire still does not seem to be on the agenda, and Benjamin Netanyahu has reaffirmed his desire to continue his enterprise of destruction, hopes for lasting peace continue to fade.