Israel’s ambassador to France, Joshua Zarka, says an incident at a commemorative event inside the European Parliament reflects a growing problem of antisemitism in France. He made that case in an interview with Europe Editor Maria Tadeo.
The event took place in Strasbourg as the world marked the third anniversary of the October 7 attacks by Hamas. It was meant to be a moment of remembrance. It became a row over a flag.
French MEP Rima Hassan faced accusations that she kicked an Israeli flag to the ground. She denies throwing it down. Her account is that she removed it from its stand.
What Hassan Says
In a post on X, Hassan described the act as political protest. “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,” she wrote. She added that “the State of Israel, which is a partner in this event through its embassy, continues to enjoy total impunity.”
Two accounts now sit side by side. One says a flag was kicked to the floor at a remembrance event. The other says it came off its stand as a deliberate political gesture. The physical act remains disputed. The setting doesn't: it happened inside a European Union institution, at an event marking the anniversary of the October 7 attacks.
The Backdrop
The dispute unfolded during the continuing war in Gaza, which the report described as a human catastrophe, with tens of thousands dead and no clear path to peace. That context shapes how both sides read the episode. Hassan links her action to the conduct of the war. Zarka sees the same moment as evidence of something broader and more troubling in French society.
It's a collision between two framings that rarely meet in the same room. For one, the issue is how a flag was treated at a commemoration. For the other, it's the legality and morality of a war. The Strasbourg chamber, a shared European space, absorbed both at once.
An Institutional Question
Hassan’s post raises a question about how the Parliament manages events on its premises. She argues that the Israeli embassy partnered in the event and that a Russian flag wouldn't be admitted within the institution. Whether that comparison holds depends on the institution's own rules and its leadership, not a wire report. But a sitting MEP is publicly contesting the terms of a commemorative event hosted in the Parliament's own building. That, in itself, is newsworthy.
Zarka’s intervention, delivered through a European broadcaster, puts the French dimension at the centre. His claim is specific: France has a serious antisemitism problem, and this episode illustrates it.
Why This Matters:
A remembrance event inside a European institution ended in a public dispute over a flag, and the ambassador of a partner state now describes France as facing a growing antisemitism problem. That leaves the Parliament with a practical question: what standards govern conduct and symbols at events on its premises, and who enforces them? It also lands in a France where public trust in how institutions handle sensitive communal tensions is already under strain. People will read the same incident differently, and the physical act remains contested. What isn't contested is that the episode has moved from Strasbourg's chamber into a diplomatic and domestic French argument, one European officials won't easily leave unanswered.