Rima Hassan Defends Removing Israeli Flag at European Parliament

European lawmaker Rima Hassan has defended removing an Israeli flag at the European Parliament, saying the gesture was intended to denounce what she described as Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

The incident drew accusations against Hassan, placing her action at the centre of a dispute over the protest.

Her team confirmed that she had deliberately removed the Israeli flag. It said, however, that the fall of a European flag during the incident was unintentional.

That distinction formed a central part of her team’s explanation: Hassan’s protest targeted the Israeli flag, while the European flag’s fall was not part of the intended action.