Rima Hassan: the rebellious MEP turned away upon entering Israel

She barely had time to set foot on the soil of the Hebrew state. Rima Hassan was turned back by the Israeli authorities after trying to enter the country, as part of a visit by a delegation from the European Parliament, the Israeli Interior Ministry announced on Monday, February 24. "Rima Hassan took off for Brussels on a Brussels Airlines plane, after her entry into Israel was refused, on the instructions of the Minister of the Interior," the statement said. Earlier, the Interior Ministry had announced that the MEP from France Insoumise (radical left) would not be allowed to enter Israel.

"Following the instructions of the Minister of the Interior, Moshe Arbel, the entry into Israel of Rima Hassan, member of the European Parliament will be prohibited," said the first statement. She is accused of acting "regularly to promote the boycott against Israel, in addition to her numerous public interventions on social networks and in interviews," it is detailed.

The MEP, who has made numerous controversial statements about Israel , is the subject of an investigation for "apology for terrorism" in France after having considered in an interview in "true or false" mode, after October 7, that it was "true" that the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas was leading a legitimate action. According to her, the excerpt from the interview is not faithful to her words. On the X network, she called Israel a "terrorist" state, accused the Israeli army of having "coldly executed Palestinian children" or wrote that "the international community is calling on Israel to leave Palestine" .

Rima Hassan was travelling to Israel and the Palestinian Territories alongside other MEPs from the Delegation for Relations with Palestine (DPAL), chaired by Irishwoman Lynn Boylan and created in November 1993. These elected representatives are due to meet Palestinian figures in Jerusalem and Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank.

In May 2022, the then president of the DPAL, the Spaniard Manu Pineda, had castigated the Israeli authorities for their refusal to let him enter the Territories, citing “attempts at intimidation” . The visit of the rest of the delegation had been cancelled. On Monday, the thirteenth meeting of the Association Council between the European Union and Israel takes place in Brussels, where Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar is for talks with his European Union counterparts.