“I’m embarrassed to have become an icon in spite of myself”: meeting with Rima Hassan

The lawyer of Palestinian origin, 7th on the LFI list in the European elections, was summoned this Tuesday by the police for “apology of terrorism”.

Mathilde Panot and Rima Hassan must explain themselves to the police this Tuesday, April 30 in Paris. The leader of the rebellious deputies and the lawyer of Palestinian origin and 7th on the LFI list for the European elections are summoned for “apology of terrorism”, after their remarks described as “ambiguous“on the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7. Summons described as “censorship” by La France insoumise which calls for a rally of support.

franceinfo met Rima Hassan, this woman who crystallizes the attacks of the opponents of the rebels and whose party makes a pro-Palestine standard. “I’m embarrassed to have become an icon in spite of myself”, Rima Hassan immediately says, with a broad smile. She shows up more than thirty minutes late, the fault of a busy schedule apologies for the one that takes up a lot of light in this left-wing campaign.

A lifelong commitment

At just 32 years old, she experienced her first political engagement, after years of activism for the Palestinian cause which revealed her in the eyes of rebellious France.

Rima Hassan was born in 1992 in a refugee camp in Syria, into a family of Palestinians in exile. Arriving in France in 2001 in Deux-Sèvres, she was stateless until 2010 before being naturalized. Her mother wanted her to become a doctor. She chose law and wrote a dissertation on the legal comparison between Apartheid South Africa and Israel.

She then spent six years at the National Asylum Court, the court which examines the appeals of asylum seekers. She then launches the refugee camp observatory, resonating with her personal story. Today, the Insoumis have made Rima Hassan a centerpiece in the European campaign.

Pro-Palestine standard for LFI

Jean-Luc Mélenchon no longer appears without her, she is highlighted in meetings… She has a calm voice and is as comfortable on the platform as she is responding to the numerous requests for selfies. A Renaissance executive gets angry when we talk to him about Rima Hassan. “These are European elections, not a cantonal one in Gaza,” he evacuates before tackling the lawyer’s comments on October 7. “Hamas has committed terrorist acts,” repeats Rima Hassan. The candidate often wears a pin in the colors of Palestine on her jacket, but nevertheless promises that she never wanted to be locked into this subject.

The lawyer was particularly criticized for having said, in an interview given to the media at the end of November The pencilon Instagram, that he was “TRUE“that Hamas is carrying out legitimate action. The person concerned denounces a misleading editing of her response. In a joint press release published with her on Monday April 29, The pencil indicates having handed over “this entire interview“to the candidate”so that it can rely on it in the exclusive context of the legal actions that it will have to carry out“. Summoned by the police for “apology for terrorism”Rima Hassan deplores “a criminalization of voices that express themselves on the Palestinian question“, while recognizing that “the investigators are simply doing their jobl” after the “abusive recourse“of pro-Israeli organizations.

The rebellious deputy David Guiraud, one of the architects of his poaching, praises his pedagogy and his discipline. “She has talent, panache even,” concedes a socialist tenor half-heartedly. “Without October 7, she would not be on the list,” tackles another. “It’s true”, assumes Rima Hassan, before concluding: “The emergency in Gaza pushed me to get involved.”