PARIS — A split is emerging in French politics over whether to celebrate over France’s impending recognition of Palestinian statehood by flying Palestinian flags in front of city halls across the country.
Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure has called for mayors to float the Palestinian flag on Sept. 22, when President Emmanuel Macron will formally recognize a Palestinian state at the U.N. General Assembly.
But the French Interior Ministry, which is run by conservative party leader Bruno Retailleau, has asked local state representatives to immediately ask any mayor who would choose to fly the flag to remove them — and to file an emergency request before a local court to have it forcibly removed if the mayor refuses to comply.
“There are already enough divisive issues in the country without importing the Middle East conflict,” Retailleau said on Facebook.
Faure responded Friday by accusing Retailleau of trying to manage affairs outside of his remit as interior minister.
The spat could hardly come at a worse time for Macron and his new prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, who is trying to craft a compromise budget that reins in France’s eye-watering budget deficit and satisfies both Retailleau and Faure’s parties.
The Socialists, who voted to bring down Lecornu’s two immediate predecessors, are entering negotiations with demands that are hard for both Macron’s camp and Retailleau’s Les Républicains to swallow — including a minimum 2 percent tax on those worth more than €100 million.
The Socialist mayor of Nantes is among the most high-profile city leaders to have committed to raising the Palestinian flag despite the warnings from the Interior Ministry.
A ministry official told TV station CNews that French law prohibits the display of “religious, ideological or political beliefs which are not shared by the entire population” on public buildings, including town halls.
In June, a court ordered Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi, a Macron ally, to temporarily stop displaying Israeli flags which were raised for months, arguing that the Hebrew flag “cannot be regarded solely as a symbol of support for the hostages, but must also be seen as support for the State of Israel and therefore as the expression of a political opinion.”
A court decision from Dec. 2024 said mayors were allowed to fly Ukrainian flags in front of their town halls because the flags “did not breach the principle of neutrality, as it was in reality a gesture of solidarity rather than a political statement.”
Flag politics
Flag politics are nothing new in Europe. The debates in France regarding the use of those representing Israel and the Palestinian territories dates back to the start of the war in Gaza.
In the immediate aftermath of the the Oct. 7, 2023 terror attack, Israeli flags were common in France — which is home to more Jews than any other country in Europe — and the Eiffel Tower was lit up with the Israeli flag.
As the war dragged on, the left has displayed Palestinian flags as a sign of solidarity with civilians suffering in Gaza after nearly two years of war. A United Nations commission this week determined Israel is committing genocide in the coastal enclave, a charge that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government vehemently denies.
Last year, Sébastien Delogu, an MP from the hard-left France Unbowed movement, was suspended from the National Assembly after raising a Palestinian flag during a debate in parliament. In protest, lawmakers from all left-wing groups wore Palestinian colors during the following session.
Right-wing officials have criticized such acts and other displays of Palestinian flags as rewarding terrorism.
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