French parliamentarians defend Israel during Gaza discussion
"We are talking a small country that is barely two provinces in France," said MP Meyer Habib before walking out of the committee meeting.
Two members of the French parliament defended Israel during a heated exchange at the Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday.The committee was discussing a report from a French delegation that visited Palestinian Authority controlled area of the West Bank and the Hamas-controlled Gaza strip.
MP Claude Goasguen sided with Habib stating, "what you have forgotten to say is that this is a war zone and that the state of Palestine does not exist legally... I stand by my friend Meyer Habib and I wish to salute the Jewish people."
MP Christian Hutin said that both the Israelis and Palestinians are victims and added, "one has a state, the other doesn't... Trump's son-in-law is not the one who will do something about this because he is still leaning in a certain direction."
Habib, responded by asking "are you saying this because he is a Jew?"Both Habib, who is Jewish, and Goasquen, who is not, have been supportive of Israel. In 2016, they both wore the traditional Jewish kippah head-covering to show solidarity with the Jewish community after a series of antisemitic stabbing attacks in France. Last week Habib met in France with a joint Israeli-Palestinian delegation led by the head of the Samaria Regional council Yossi Dagan and Sheikh Nasr Abu Khalil Al-Tamimi of Ramallah whom he said were both against BDS.
Échanges aujourd'hui @AssembleeNat avec 1 délégation israélo-palestinienne menée par le président du conseil régional de Samarie Yossi Dagan et le Cheikh Tamimi de Ramallah, très actif contre #BDS, qui pénalise les populations palestiniennes. @ElnetFr #coexistence #dialogue #paix pic.twitter.com/fRoOoPrlbc— Meyer Habib (@Meyer_Habib) May 28, 2019