MP Aymeric Caron screened a film on the daily lives of Gazans in front of around fifteen elected officials

The related parliamentarian LFI regretted “a political approach which consists for many deputies in boycotting” his film. Aymeric Caron wishes to make his film “available to all those who want to see it”.

The day after a very tense session in the hemicycle on the situation in the Middle East, the related LFI deputy Aymeric Caron broadcast to the National Assembly a film on the daily life of Gazans under Israeli bombings, Wednesday May 30. Only around fifteen deputies attended the screening, most coming from the left, a few from the majority, and two from the RN. Aymeric Caron said to himself “shocked” by this small number of parliamentarians, denouncing “a political approach which for many deputies consists of boycotting” his film.

Baptized Gaza since October 7, it brings together seven months of images from the war in the Gaza Strip in 1h30 and mixes scenes of very crude deaths with others depicting food shortages or the very great difficulties of accessing healthcare. Some videos are difficult to support. Including countless images of children, sometimes infants, killed, seriously mutilated or suffering after bombings. Death is shown without blurring. “Our subjectivity must be expressed in a minimal way”claims the former journalist.

Most of the images were collected via social media, coming from “journalists, photographers, filmmakers, caregivers and residents of Gaza”then verified by him and his team, explains the parliamentarian, ensuring that there is no “no image of Hamas”. Others come from international media, institutions or even Israeli authorities.

After the screening, the deputies left the room in silence or quietly commenting on what they saw. “The goal has been achieved, we want it to stop. The events are unbearable. The attacks of October 7 were an abomination, but we must stop punishing an entire population”estimated Mireille Clapot, Renaissance relative. “It enlightened me. Seeing suffering allows you to go beyond the numbers”commented Jérôme Guedj (PS), evoking a “respectable job”.

For Aymeric Caron, this film is not intended to respond to that compiled by the Israeli authorities on the massacre committed by Hamas on October 7, which was broadcast on November 14 in front of around a hundred deputies. Asked about the absence of peaceful Israeli voices, Aymeric Caron recognizes that there are “important” in Israel, but admits to wanting to show those who are “dominant” and led, according to him, “to what we observe today in Gaza”.

Some elected officials claimed their absence from the screening, like Mathieu Lefèvre, from the Renaissance group. The president of the France-Israel friendship group notably denounced a “victim competition” and the omission of the term “terrorist” to describe the Islamist movement in Aymeric Caron’s invitation email. Others told AFP to pass because of their sensitivity and the violence of the images.