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Rabat – France has stirred a new controversy after revoking the Simone Veil award from French-Moroccan journalist Zineb El Rhazoui due to her pro-Palestine position.
Valerie Pecresse, President of the regional council of Ile-de-France, announced that France’s decision to revoke the award from the journalist came in response to El Rhazoui’s social media post, where she accused Israeli occupation forces of “genocide.”
For Percesse, the journalist’s comments “terribly hurt” French people who lived through the Holocaust.
Pecresse said on X, formerly Twitter, that the journalist’s “courage” and the “fight against Islamism” led the region to award her the prize in 2019.
“But her recent statements… have terribly hurt our compatriots who experienced the barbarity of the Holocaust,” the French politician said.
On behalf of the region, she said that she decided to withdraw the prize which is awarded each year to a “particularly deserving woman from Ile-de-France.”
El Rhazoui responded to the decision, saying that she does not want the prize if she cannot express her sentiment over the killing of innocent Palestinians.
“By denouncing the mass crimes committed by Israel in Gaza, just like the crimes of Hamas against Israeli civilians, I am honoring Simone Veil’s legacy more than ever,” she said.
The new controversy comes amid backlash triggered by the French mayor of Nice Christian Estrosi who claimed that media outlets have been displaying “images of mothers [in Gaza] crying over plastic baby dolls.”
He made the controversial remarks during a televised interview with France 3.
The mayor sparked outrage, leading the association Nice to Gaza to file a complaint against him.
The association strongly condemned his false remarks, describing them as “dehumanizing and unacceptable.”
