The president of the French National Assembly (the lower house of the French parliament), Yaël Braun-Pivet, elected by the presidential camp, classified the behavior of the deputy as unacceptable and announced a meeting to "decide on the case of Mr. Delogu".

Braun-Pivet recalled that the display of flags or political symbols is not authorized in the chamber and warned that she would open a sanction process, with the deputy being excluded from work for a period of 15 days.

Delogu showed the Palestinian flag when the "number two" of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Franck Riester, was answering a question from another deputy of the Insubordinate France, Alma Dufour, who wanted to know why France did not recognize the Palestinian State and when it intended to approve sanctions against Tel Aviv.

The parliamentary regulation provides for sanctions against any deputy who "engages in demonstrations that disturb order or that provoke a scene of tumult".

🇫🇷🇵🇸 FLASH | Le député Sébastien Delogu (LFI) a brandi un drapeau palestinien lors des Questions au gouvernement à l’Assemblée nationale. "C’est inadmissible !" a crié Yaël Braun-Pivet, la présidente de l'Assemblée.

pic.twitter.com/zmcG73yL4B

— Cerfia (@CerfiaFR) May 28, 2024

Questioned by the press, Delogu stated that his gesture was a "personal initiative", on the day when three European countries, Spain, Ireland and Norway, officially recognized the State of Palestine.

The atmosphere had already become more tense with a previous question from another deputy of the Insubordinate France on the same subject, in the context of the Israeli attack on the Rafah region, in the south of the Gaza Strip, to which the prime minister, Gabriel Attal, avoided a direct answer.

Regarding the Israeli attack on a displaced persons complex that caused dozens of deaths and injuries, Attal acknowledged that the situation in Rafah is dramatic and that the French President, Emmanuel Macron, expressed his opposition to the operations in that city in the south of the Palestinian enclave, in a conversation with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

The French prime minister insisted that France demands a ceasefire and that it was one of the first countries to take initiatives in this regard before the UN Security Council, in which it has permanent member status (with veto power).

But he avoided directly addressing the issue of recognizing the State of Palestine and sanctions against Israel, which France has so far refused.

Instead, he criticized the position of the radical party, which he considered lukewarm, and demanded that the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas release the hostages it captured on October 7, 2023 in Israel, among whom there are still two Frenchmen.

For Gabriel Attal, "it is possible to be extremely firm and clear in the appeal for a ceasefire and at the same time firm and clear in the appeal for the release of the hostages".

The ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip was triggered by the Hamas attack on Israeli soil on October 7, 2023, which caused over 1,100 deaths and left around 250 people hostage, according to Israeli authorities.

In retaliation, Israel launched a large-scale offensive in the Palestinian territory, which has already caused more than 36,000 deaths, mostly civilians, and left the enclave in a serious humanitarian crisis, according to local authorities controlled by Hamas.

Read Also: Seven Palestinians killed in new Israeli attack on Rafah (Portuguese version)