The Freedom Flotilla solidified Rima Hassan as the face of France’s pro-Palestinian camp

PARIS — Rima Hassan’s journey aboard the Freedom Flotilla didn’t end when Israeli forces intercepted it in the Mediterranean. It concluded before a sea of Palestinian flags being waved by cheering supporters back in Paris.

Hassan, a 33-year-old Franco-Palestinian MEP, had just returned to the French capital on June 12 after spending a week on the open water, followed by three days in Israeli custody after attempting to bring aid into the blockaded Gaza Strip.

The boat was not nearly big enough to carry sufficient aid to stave off the looming humanitarian catastrophe in the besieged coastal enclave. Speaking to the crowd alongside fiery hard-left French presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Hassan admitted it was “mostly symbolic.”

“Our action sought, of course, to bring humanitarian aid into Gaza … but also, and mostly, to call out and break the blockade,” she told the crowd.

In an interview with POLITICO, Hassan said that she and others on board, including famed climate activist Greta Thunberg, had been mistreated by the Israeli Defense Forces, which tried to gain the upper hand in the public relations battle by dubbing their ship the “selfie yacht.” They also shared videos of troops handing out water and sandwiches to passengers.

Hassan said she and others on board were purposefully deprived of sleep by Israeli authorities — an accusation that has been levied by other passengers. At night they were kept on deck “without a sleeping bag or a blanket.” Then, as morning arrived, they were “locked inside” and refused the opportunity to step out one at a time for air.

She added that guards had threatened her while she was detained, with one saying that if it were up to him he would kill her. Hassan also reported being placed in solitary confinement for writing “Free Palestine,” “Gaza genocide” and “Nakba” on the walls of her cell and refusing to remove the messages.

The IDF did not respond to a request for comment regarding the allegations.

By the time Hassan returned home, the ordeal had solidified her status as the polarizing face of France’s pro-Palestinian movement.

“When you embody a cause, people identify with you more,” she told POLITICO. “My dual identity allows me to build a bridge between the West — which is my host land and probably my future — and the land I come from.”

Rights and returns

Hassan was born stateless in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria and later moved to France to reunite with her mother, who had left after a divorce. She became a French citizen at 18.

A trained lawyer and eloquent speaker, Hassan caught the attention of political circles. In the summer of 2023 she was invited by the French Greens to speak at a party convention. But she ultimately launched her political career with Mélenchon’s France Unbowed movement.

In an interview with POLITICO, Hassan said that she and others on board, including famed climate activist Greta Thunberg, were mistreated by the Israeli Defense Forces. | Anders Wiklund/EFE via EPA

Hassan had begun drawing modest attention through television appearances, but the spotlight is still relatively new for her, having been elected to the European Parliament just last year. Yet her background and her desire, in her words, to “shake things up a bit” and bring attention to the Palestinian cause has made her both a preferred target for her opponents and a champion within her own camp.

Hassan became a defining symbol of France Unbowed’s campaign during the 2024 European elections. The party made its support for Palestinians a central plank of its platform, presenting the matter as one of humanity. Critics saw it as a naked attempt to appeal to Muslim voters given the charged — and some argued anti-Semitic — language used by Mélenchon. His movement brushed off the accusation as an attempt to undermine support for the Palestinian cause.

Since her election, Hassan’s continued description of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attacks on Israel as “legitimate from the perspective of international law” has drawn fury from much of France’s political establishment.

Hassan condemned the raids as “morally unacceptable” in a post on X. Still, she argued that armed action against an occupying power is permitted under international law, even by Hamas, despite its history of terror attacks and civilian bombings.

Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau called the comments “unacceptable” and said on X that he had reported them to prosecutors to be investigated as glorifying terrorism.

Hassan is also one of the few French politicians who does not support a two-state solution. Instead, she advocates a single, binational state including both Israelis and Palestinians that guarantees the right of Palestinians to return to homes they fled or were expelled from when Israel became a state in 1948.

Israel has long opposed the right of return, deeming it a threat to its identity as a Jewish state.

These controversies have helped make the MEP one of Europe’s most talked-about and closely watched politicians. She even has more Instagram followers than the far-right’s millennial leader, Jordan Bardella, or the 36-year-old centrist ex–prime minister, Gabriel Attal.

Following her ordeal, Hassan this week returned to Strasbourg for a plenary session of the European Parliament with her resolve to put Palestinian rights at the forefront of French and European politics firmer than ever. She plans to use her role as an MEP to push the EU to suspend its political and economic agreement with Israel, and instead to impose an arms embargo on the country.

While Hassan’s high profile may help her achieve these goals, she insists she would rather not live under constant media scrutiny.

“It’s something I can’t control, in both directions,” she said. “I’m neither a hero nor a monster. I just want to stay true to myself.”