Far-left French politician criticised for ‘tribute’ to Hamas leader

A politician from France’s far-left La France Insoumise (LFI) party has been widely criticised for posting an hommage on social media to a Hamas leader assassinated last week. 

MP Sophia Chikirou, who has represented one of Paris’ circonscriptions (constituencies) for the LFI since 2022, shared posts about Ismaël Hanniyah, the former leader of the Hamas group who was killed last week in Tehran, Iran. 

The MP reposted screenshots on Instagram about the life of Mr Hanniyah. The screenshots called him both a ‘resistance’ fighter and a ‘martyr’ and were originally made by a group called Urgence Palestine. 

She has since deleted the posts from her account, but you can see what she originally shared below.

“I do not support Hamas, nor its elected political branch in Gaza, whose Islamist project I in no way share,” the MP said in an interview with French media Libération on Sunday (August 4). 

“Nor do I support its armed wing, because I denounce and condemn its terrorist acts against civilian populations, particularly those of October 7,” she added.

She claimed the post was merely “shared as news… without comment [and paid] no tribute,” to the Hamas leader. 

One of the posts “is a five-point biography of the Hamas leader and the other two are a press release from his son in which he denounces the assassination and reminds us that the resistance of the Palestinian people will not weaken for all that,” she added. 

She explained that she deleted the posts after attacks on her social media pages from the far-right, who were attempting “to stir up controversy” from the images. 

Socialist MPs criticise post

However, politicians from across the spectrum have reacted with indignation, including many from the Socialist Party, the second-largest group within the Nouveau Front Populaire (current left-wing alliance in parliament) behind the LFI.

The group is made up of left-wing parties, including the Socialist Party and the LFI, and there are concerns the post could lead to an early fracturing of the alliance, which is currently the biggest group in France’s Assemblée nationale.

Read more: Career to date of French left’s prime ministerial candidate Lucie Castets

“You can't praise the leader of a Hamas group by saying he's a martyr, because he's not a martyr", said Arthur Delaporte, Socialist MP in Calvados.

Leader of the Socialist Party Olivier Faure said her actions undermine the collective work of the Nouveau Front Populaire on social media site X. 

Carole Delga, senior member of the Socialist Party and president of the Occitanie region, said “Chikirou is an apologist for terrorism and a mouthpiece for hatred of Jews.”

Complaint lodged by student group 

The union of Jewish students in France (Union des étudiants juifs) announced that it has filed an official complaint for ‘apology for terrorism’ due to the post. 

The group has referred the matter to the National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor's office and has asked for the parliamentary immunity of Miss Chikirou to be lifted so she can be investigated and potentially sentenced.

The president of the union accused the MP of "propagating a crass hatred of Israel that fuels anti-Semitic violence", and said everything must be done to "put a stop to this disgrace.” 

You can read the group’s full statement below. 

Read more: Comment: France has entered its ‘deckchairs on the Titanic’ moment