Canceling a conference on Palestine at the French University of Lille

The French University of Lille canceled a conference on Palestine by radical left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon and French-Palestinian activist Rima Hassan that was scheduled to be held on Thursday, at the request of right-wing leaders.

The "Proud France" party, led by Mélenchon, which nominated Rima Hassan for the European elections scheduled for next June 9, confirmed that the conference "will be held elsewhere."

Referring to the missile and drone attack carried out by Iran on Israel, the university said that “conditions are no longer available to ensure calm discussions” due to the escalation of “worrying” tensions after “the military escalation that occurred on April 13 and 14 in the Middle East.”

For its part, the “Proud France” party said in a statement: “We will not remain silent. The conference of Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Rima Hassan will be held on Thursday in the city of Lille,” adding that “notifications regarding the new site will be sent to those registered.” The party criticized the university administration "incapable of resisting pressures that infringe on freedom of expression."

The "Proud France" party, which made the condemnation of the Israeli military operations in Gaza one of the axes of its European election campaign, denounces "the exploitation of this conference by supporters of unconditional support for the government of (Benjamin) Netanyahu."

Several elected officials, including Xavier Bertrand, head of the Republican Party (the right-wing opposition), had called for the event to be banned.

Bertrand said on Wednesday, "This political meeting disguised as a conference and carrying anti-Zionist overtones has no place in a French university."

At the heart of the discussion was the poster that was published to announce the holding of the conference, which shows the area that includes Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and the phrase “Free Palestine” was pasted, which is the name of the student association that was established in November 2023 and was behind the initiative to organize the conference.

This was considered a "denial of the existence of the State of Israel" by some, including Raphael Glucksmann, head of the Socialist List in the European elections, which the League denied.