Thursday, April 18, 2024

"You Have Wiped Israel Off the Map!" Clash on French TV As Pro-Palestine Speaker Tries to Gaslight the Fact that Her Palestine Logo Has Made Israel Vanish


A conference on Palestine at the university of Lille by one of France's main leftist parties has been shut down after it transpired that the logo of the conference showing a map of the region — a map of, quote, "FREE Palestine" — has made Israel vanish.

More than that: The ban took place in the wake of an LFI poster showing Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Rima Hassan announcing a conference on "the current situation in Palestine" with the word Israel nowhere to be seen and, as mentioned, the Jewish state having totally disappeared in the "FREE Palestine" map (at bottom right).

La France Insoumise (LFI or Unyielding France) is France's most far-left party, a kind of successor to the French Communist Party, with former (?) Communist Jean-Luc Mélenchon as its head and regular presidential candidate.

From the Morandini talk show on the C News channel:

“There is no Israel on the poster. Does that mean that you want Israel to disappear?!” Jean-Marc Morandini asked an LFI representative repeatedly. “But not at all! We want the Palestinian people to be free. The logo is very clear,” replied Karima Khatim, an LFI municipal representative from Blanc-Mesnil.

Very quickly, tempers rose. "You are showing bad faith! You don't understand anything! What this poster shows is the destruction of Israel! Your party is an anti-Semitic party!" charged Karim Maloum. “Sir, just for your words, I could sue you! People are fed up with being called anti-Semites when they [do nothing but] defend the Palestinian cause. We want a two-state solution,” declared Karima Khatim.

"You do?!" retorted Jean-Marc Morandini, again and again. "Really?! Where do you see two states on the poster?! There is a difference between what you say and what we see. Where do you see the two states?!" But he never got an answer from his guest.

"You cannot in any way see the presence of Israel on this poster. All the facts speak against you. You are incapable of recognizing what is going on. You are exasperating the viewers of CNews," said Captain Hervé Moreau.

Check out the Morandini website for the videos: the arguing is in French (naturellement), but it is not hard to understand how Karima Khatim is going ballistic, interrupting everybody, and gaslighting her audience (as well as herself?), claiming that she can't see where there is a problem.

This is the second ban in Europe within the space of a day or two — the other on the other side of the spectrum, concerning a conference on National Conservatism in Brussels.

As it happens, President Macron has announced that he disagrees with the Lille region prefect's ban, stating that 

I am for respecting the laws of la République. Afterwards, as far as I am concerned, I am always in favor of people being able to express themselves freely, even as I am prepared to fight their ideas
But that might seem to smack of double standards: the C News channel is seen as so far to the right (although not with regards to American issues, not to the point of preferring Trump over Biden) that there have been rumors that there are members of the French government who are attempting to shut it down as well.

Related • To Peacenik Protesters Everywhere (Pro-Palestinian or Other): 
The People that Hamas Slaughtered Mercilessly at Israel's Rave — They Are YOU! 

• The Genocide Charge Against Israel: What is
the Difference Between War and Genocide in the First Place?

• A Gary Varvel cartoon on the current Middle East crisis and the truth about its roots

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

If only Israel could disappear IRL

Anonymous said...

Israel has always been there. Even building a mosque on top of it won't make it disappear.