A tenure that may surprise. Danièle Obono was confirmed as a member of the Court of Justice of the Republic on October 18, the day of the official publication of the composition of the exceptional court in the Official Journal. The rebellious MP had already been elected in July 2022 to sit within the institution. With many of her counterparts in the National Assembly, the elected official’s mission is to judge crimes and misdemeanors committed by members of the government in the exercise of their functions.
However, this confirmation comes as the MP finds herself at the heart of a controversy, in the context of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group which carried out a bloody attack against the Jewish state on October 7. Danièle Obono indeed affirmed last Tuesday, at the microphone of Sud Radio, that the Islamist organization was “a resistance movement”, provoking a number of negative reactions from the political class.
“It is an Islamist political group which has an armed branch, which is part of Palestinian political groups, which aims to liberate Palestine, which resists occupation, which defines itself as such and which is recognized as such by international authorities,” she further insisted.
In the process, the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin decided to take legal action for “apology of terrorism”. The French Jewish Youth association also announced that it was filing a complaint against X, stating: “We are filing a complaint against Danièle Obono for advocating terrorism. Done playing.”
Other political reactions were quick to emerge, including within the Nupes which has been divided on the subject of the qualification of Hamas since the start of the war. Marine Tondelier, national secretary of Europe Écologise-les Verts, rebuked X: “Okay now, that’s enough,” she published, firmly rejecting the notion of “resistance”.
In response, the MP for France Insoumise called out the secretary of EELV by calling her “Marine “Karen” Tondelier” on a certain age, from the middle class, who rebels against everything and who, above all, perpetuates systemic racism. It was chosen because of its predominance in the 1960s and 1970s among white families in the United States.
“*Marine “Karen” Tondelier is going to ask to see my supervisor (whom she imagines to be either Manuel Bompard or Jean-Luc Mélenchon) to try to get me fired*.”, Danièle Obono mocked on X. The heated exchange of arms did not go unnoticed on social networks: the LFI MP’s tweet was read more than 600,000 times.
But the Greens were not the only ones to rebel, the socialists also wanted to react. “What a shame,” castigated the PS mayor of Rouen, Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol. “No, the clear left cannot work with people who make such comments,” he insisted. The PS deputy Jérôme Guedj even announced that he no longer wanted to sit on the Nupes intergroup after this exit by Danièle Obono. For him, the latter constitutes “another reason” to end the left alliance.
The majority, for their part, did not mince their words. The Minister of Solidarity and Families, Aurore Bergé, protested: “They slit the throats of babies. They disemboweled pregnant women. They beheaded old men. They massacred families. They are terrorists. Islamist terrorists. It’s the same scourge that we are fighting, in all democracies,” she published on X. Before deciding: “You are nothing but a shame.” Further to the right, the boss of the LR, Éric Ciotti, asked for “sanctions and the lifting of the parliamentary immunity of MP Obono for advocating terrorism”.
Even more recently, the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo also decided to react to the Parisian elected official’s comments on Hamas. The media, which has been the target of several terrorist attacks in recent years, published a caricature depicting Danièle Obono confronted with Israeli hostages captured by Hamas. With a comment: “Gaza/Israel: Peace is possible! France exchanges Obono for Israeli hostages.”
This publication caused outrage among the rebels who reacted in unison by declaring the drawing “racist” and “anti-Semitic”. Mathilde Panot, leader of the LFI in the Assembly, affirmed on X that the caricature was “to throw up”. “The Charlie Hebdo cartoon plays the “blessed time of the colonies”, and quietly signals the return of racist and anti-Semitic caricatures.” Perfect audience with Fdesouche who shares immediately. Don’t we bother you, racists?” she asked angrily. “It’s worthy of the worst far-right rags!”, judged Val-de-Marne MP Rachel Kéké.
