Israel’s ambassador to France, Joshua Zarka, says an incident at a commemorative event in the European Parliament shows France has a growing antisemitism problem. He made the claim in an interview with Europe Editor Maria Tadeo. It lands amid one of Europe’s rawest political arguments.
The event took place in Strasbourg as the world marked the third anniversary of the October 7 attacks by Hamas. It unfolded during continued war in Gaza, which the report described as producing a human catastrophe, with tens of thousands dead and no clear path to peace.
The Incident in Strasbourg
At the centre of the row is French MEP Rima Hassan. She stands accused of kicking an Israeli flag to the ground. She denies it. Hassan says she didn’t throw the flag down; she says she removed it from its stand.
Zarka sees the episode as a symptom, not an isolated moment. In his account, it reflects something deeper and more troubling in French society. His broader argument in the interview is that antisemitism in France is growing, and that what happened in Strasbourg fits that pattern.
Hassan’s Defence
Hassan has described her action as political protest. In a post on X, she wrote: “My gesture is part of the denunciation of the ongoing genocide, of violations of international law, and of this incessant and unbearable double standard: a Russian flag would never be admitted within the institution's premises. The State of Israel, which is a partner in this event through its embassy, continues to enjoy total impunity.”
The two accounts barely meet. One side sees hostility at a ceremony of remembrance. The other sees a challenge to what she calls a double standard inside a European institution. They’re describing the same few seconds in the same chamber.
A Setting That Matters
The location adds weight. The European Parliament is meant to let member states and political families argue forcefully while following shared rules of respect. A commemorative event there, with an embassy as a partner, carried political charge on the third anniversary of October 7. Hassan’s post points to that partnership as part of her objection.
The incident shows how difficult it has become to hold a commemoration without turning it into a contest over the war itself. Grief for victims of the Hamas attacks, anger at the scale of death in Gaza, and disputes over international law keep colliding in public spaces, including places Europeans built to manage disagreement peacefully.
What Isn’t Settled
The facts here are narrow. A flag ended up on the ground. One MEP says she removed it from its stand; others accuse her of kicking it. Neither the ambassador’s claim about France nor Hassan’s claim about impunity can be settled by one episode, and the interview doesn’t pretend otherwise. It puts a question to the public: how should European institutions handle commemoration, protest and the line between them?
Why This Matters:
Three years after October 7, the war in Gaza still shapes politics within Europe’s own institutions. Jewish communities want to know they can mourn and gather without hostility. Many Europeans are horrified by the death toll in Gaza and want to say so. When those realities clash in the European Parliament itself, both concerns risk being flattened into a flag dispute. Taking antisemitism seriously and defending the right to denounce violations of international law aren’t opposites, and Europe’s institutions need clear rules, applied consistently, that protect both. Without that, citizens’ trust in them erodes, while the human catastrophe in Gaza remains unresolved and Europe argues over symbols.