NANTERRE, France: As French President Emmanuel Macron recognized Palestine statehood earlier this week, dozens of town halls across France hoisted the Palestinian flag in celebration — defying instructions by Macron’s interior ministry not to do so.
By Wednesday, some had taken the flag down after regional authorities initiated legal proceedings — an episode which some mayors said undermined the message of solidarity Macron sought to make with his largely symbolic recognition.
“For me it’s a complete misunderstanding,” Raphael Adam, mayor of Nanterre outside Paris, told Reuters. “You can’t have a government asking its representatives to oppose raising a flag at the same time it’s recognizing the state.”
The city raised the flag in a ceremony on Monday but a day later, the Nanterre administrative court ruled it should be removed after the city defied an order by the regional representative, known as the prefect, to take it down.
Under French law, public buildings cannot be used as platforms for expressing political, religious or philosophical opinions. Local officials noted, however, that Ukrainian flags have been displayed and even projected on the Eiffel Tower.
“When we raised a Ukrainian flag, no one told us anything!” said Gilles Poux, mayor of La Courneuve, northeast of Paris, who planned to take down the flag late on Tuesday after his administration was fined for flying one earlier this year.
“Speaking of neutrality is hypocritical. Liberty, equality, fraternity: there’s nothing neutral about these values,” he said.
Asked about the allegations of double standards, the interior ministry told Reuters the Gaza war had provoked protests and tensions in France, and that displaying Palestinian flags on public buildings could trigger public unrest.
As of Tuesday night, 86 town halls across France had flown the Palestinian flag, according to the interior ministry, which last week told regional government representatives to block such moves for contravening France’s “neutrality principle.”
Anne Tuaillon, head of the France Palestine Solidarity Association, said there was no room for neutrality “in a situation of oppression,” referring to Israel’s military onslaught on Gaza since the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.
Lionel Crusoe, a lawyer specialized in French public law, said the interior ministry ruling made little sense.
“This neutrality principle for public services does not prevent a municipality from being able to occasionally show solidarity toward a people who are the target of a military aggression, or a terrorist attack, for example,” he said.
France’s town halls told to remove Palestinian flags flown to mark Macron’s recognition
https://arab.news/5z7pb
France’s town halls told to remove Palestinian flags flown to mark Macron’s recognition
- Dozens of town halls across France hoisted the Palestinian flag in celebration of recognition- defying instructions by Macron’s interior ministry not to do so
- By Wednesday, some had taken the flag down after regional authorities initiated legal proceedings
Pull him off TV: Steve Bannon shuts down Sen. Lindsey Graham
- Trump’s former chief strategist called for the senator to be registered as a foreign agent
DUBAI: Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon called on Tuesday for US Senator Lindsey Graham to be registered as a foreign agent of the Israeli government, escalating a growing conservative backlash against the senator’s vocal support for Israel.
Speaking on his podcast “War Room,” Bannon said Graham should be “pulled off of television,” adding: "This is dangerous… because you have guys like Lindsey Graham and dozens more that are doing the wrong thing.”
In a Fox News interview on Monday, Graham said: “To all the antisemites, to all the isolationists… I’m not with you, I’m with Israel, I will be with Israel to our dying day.”
Graham also urged Gulf Arab states to join military action against Iran. “What I want you to do in the Middle East, to our friends in Saudi Arabia and other places, [is] step forward and say, ‘this is my fight too, I join America, I’m publicly involved in bringing this regime down,’” he said.
In a post on X, Graham questioned the value of a US defense agreement with Saudi Arabia following the evacuation of the American embassy in Riyadh, writing: “Why should America do a defense agreement with a country like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that is unwilling to join a fight of mutual interest?”
Faisal Abbas, editor-in-chief of Arab News, responded to Graham’s comments in a Sky News interview, saying: “He flip flops so much, it’s actually entertaining.”
“On one hand, he says he will never set foot in Saudi Arabia. The next day, he’s here signing multimillion-dollar deals.”
“I don’t think anyone here takes him seriously,” Abbas added.
He warned Graham to be careful what he wished for: “Do you really want Saudi Arabia involved in this war putting our oil facilities at risk or do you want us stabilizing the energy markets?”
Graham pressed further, warning that inaction would carry a price. “Hopefully Gulf Cooperation Council countries will get more involved as this fight is in their backyard. If you are not willing to use your military now, when are you willing to use it?”
“Hopefully this changes soon. If not, consequences will follow.”
Graham's remarks drew sharp criticism from Bannon and others including podcast host Megyn Kelly.
She questioned on X whether Graham was overstepping his authority as a senator, writing: “When did Lindsay Graham become our president?”
Kelly also said Graham had threatened Lebanon, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, the wider Arab region, and Spain within a 24-hour period.
The problem with Graham “isn’t (just) that he’s a homicidal maniac, it’s that Trump likes and is listening to him,” she said in another post.
