The 120 members of the France-Israel friendship group commission were invited to watch the film of the massacres perpetrated by the Palestinian Islamist movement. Not everyone will go there, for different reasons.
It is a particularly trying 47-minute film which will be screened at 5:30 p.m., Tuesday November 14, to the deputies of the France-Israel friendship group. At the initiative of the group’s Renaissance president, Mathieu Lefèvre, parliamentarians are invited to view a compilation of the massacres committed by Hamas in Israel on October 7.
The film has already been shown in several countries and to around fifty French journalists at the Israeli embassy in France. Produced by the Israeli authorities from extracts from the cameras and phones of Hamas members, killed or taken prisoner, and images captured by victims and rescuers, it shows without filter the killings and the tortured corpses of adults and of children.
“Nothing would be worse than oblivion in the face of barbarism, it is important that parliamentarians who are relays of opinion can have access to it”, explains Mathieu Lefèvre, who organized the screening in conjunction with the Israeli embassy. If the 120 members of the friendship group were formally invited by email last Friday, the screening is not closed to other deputies. “If colleagues want to see the film without being a member of the group, I won’t say no to them”assures Mathieu Lefèvre.
This is also what David Guiraud will do: the deputy La France insoumise, who is not a member of this group, was strongly criticized for having drawn a parallel, during a conference in Tunisia, between the attacks of Hamas on October 7 and the massacre of Sabra and Chatila, in Lebanon, in 1982. On the social network to assist. “I am going there to share a moment of pain, mourning and fear with compatriots bruised by these war crimeshe explains on X, Monday. I am also going there because the tone used in my conference was too light and could have offended. I hear it. It was not intended to put this massacre into perspective. I’m here to correct that.”
Medical support provided
Viewing, strictly reserved for elected officials, is therefore prohibited for collaborators of deputies. Telephones will also be prohibited in order to avoid any capture of images. “We draw the attention of people who wish to view the film to the fact that the images are particularly shocking”we can read in the invitation email that Franceinfo was able to consult. “I fear the images, I don’t know if, humanly, I will have the capacity to holddelivers Mathieu Lefèvre. I’m not ruling out going out.” Medical support is also provided with firefighters, doctors and psychologists.
The president of the Renaissance group at the Assembly, Sylvain Maillard, will be present. “It is important for him, particularly involved in these subjects, to go there, let those around him know. He knows the images will be very hard to watch, but it’s too important a subject to look away from.”
The fear of “trauma” among several deputies
The shock of the images is precisely what several members of this friendship group fear. “I am a fairly sensitive person on a human level. I have already seen a few snippets of videos or photos of the abuses committed by Hamas. I think I have seen enough to form an idea and sympathize.”thus justifies the LR deputy Véronique Louwagie, who will not attend the screening. “Maybe it’s selfish, but I don’t want to do that to myself.”
“With such a terrible projection, don’t people think that they won’t be psychically shocked”, warns Isabelle Santiago. The socialist MP, who says she has already had access to photos and videos of the massacres of October 7, “hesitates” yet to attend this screening. Denouncing an initiative “which was not agreed between the members of the office” of the friendship group, she could decide not to go there, to “protect” of a possible “trauma”.
“You have to be accompanied, because you don’t come out unscathed.”
Isabelle Santiago, socialist deputyat franceinfo
Other deputies wonder, before this particular screening: do the 120 elected officials of this France-Israel friendship group represent the right audience for this film? “I dare to hope that no one in the group doubts. It’s a public that is already a priori convinced of what happened.” explains one of its members, Sandra Regol. The environmentalist deputy from Bas-Rhin will not attend the screening, due to a scheduling problem, but not only that. “I don’t need to exemplify atrocities to traumatize me”she believes.
A film for “opinion relays”
Several deputies believe that this film, considered traumatic by those who saw it, should rather be aimed at other people. Isabelle Santiago talks about “those who doubt or those who have inappropriate words. For them, it may be useful.” For Paul Midy, Renaissance deputy, “it is very useful for those who are not yet convinced that a terrorist attack, and especially this one, is abominable. I leave my place to the LFI deputies in particular”squeaks the parliamentarian, while the radical left deputies have defended themselves for a month from having downplayed the abuses committed that day. The entourage of Aymeric Caron, the only LFI deputy present in the France-Israel friendship group, assures franceinfo that the ex-journalist will be present at the screening. The president of the friendship group had requested, last month, that he no longer be vice-president, but the boss of the LFI deputies, Mathilde Panot, had not given a favorable response.
In any case, Mathieu Lefèvre evacuates all “political approach” or “communication” and explains having organized this screening in a “memory process” for some “opinion relay” who are the deputies. This close friend of Gérald Darmanin assures that there will be no introductory remarks, no debate organized after the screening.