A film on Gaza screened in the Assembly, very few deputies present

The broadcast of the film “Gaza since October 7” brought together only 17 deputies this Wednesday in the Assembly during its broadcast. Its author, the LFI related elected official Aymeric Caron regrets the “lack of humanity” of his colleagues.

This Wednesday, May 29, 2024, the related LFI deputy Aymeric Caron broadcast to the National Assembly the film “Gaza since October 7” which he himself edited. A compilation of images from residents and local journalists on the daily lives of residents of the Gaza Strip since the start of the bombings. During the session, only 17 deputies responded to the call and were present to view the images, which were often unbearable. For comparison, there were nearly a hundred of them during the screening on the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023 of a film broadcast by the majority, last November 14, thanks to images collected from the Israeli authorities.

1h30 of “raw” and atrocious images

It is 7:15 p.m. when the video begins in the hemicycle. In total, the deputies present were able to view an hour and thirty minutes of images coming from “reliable sources” assures Aymeric Caron to AFP. The images show in particular bombings and rubble. As in many images posted on social networks recently, children wander over trash, rubble and bodies after explosions to try to find something to eat in the middle of the chaos. The images “are not blurred” clarified Aymeric Caron. They are “raw” and “there is no image of Hamas” he specifies.

“This proves the total lack of humanity of the representatives of the Nation”

Disillusioned after the broadcast of the images, Aymeric Caron indicates that he cannot “understand that even today, the majority of deputies of thisAssembly refuses to say that there are absolutely unbearable war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza, and to want to deny that it is entirely legitimate to ask the question of genocide. Or else, they are in absolute cynicism for political reasons, which means that they know it but nevertheless decide to deny all this because it does not correspond to their political agenda, and this proves the total lack of humanity of the representatives of the Nation in this hemicycle”.

The low number of participants raises questions, right up to the other end of the political spectrum. An attitude castigated by RN deputy Julien Odoul: “They talk to us about Gaza morning, noon, evening, and when a film is going to show the suffering, they are not there. Their absence shows it, they don’t care about the people at all Palestinian,” he declared. Indeed, no elected representative from Renaissance or LR was present at the National Assembly to view the film. On the rebellious side, very few elected officials made the trip. “We can have firm positions, move towards peace, without needing to see the corpses,” said Sandrine Rousseau, environmentalist deputy from Paris, yesterday.

Jérôme Guedj and the PS “in a hurry” to participate in the broadcast?

The tensions did not end there. The tone has risen between the socialist Jérôme Guedj and Aymeric Caron. The first considers having been put “up against the wall” by the second with regard to this film. “We need unifying initiatives, not things that add to the divide, there are enough tensions. My concern is that things are changing and we must be exemplary” he indicated at the microphone of BFMTV. He accuses him in particular of having pressured his colleagues to participate in the broadcast.

A statement to which Aymeric Caron was quick to respond on X (ex-Twitter): “No Jérôme Guedj, you are lying:I did not “rush” anyone to see the documentary “Gaza, since October 7”, which I was showing this evening in the Assembly. I only spoke about it to one person in your group when I came across her by chance. For the rest, invitation by email. I have not had any direct exchange with you on this subject. That and “Caron has divisive positions on the subject”, formulated on BFM, while my positions are now confirmed by international justice, frankly, you lower the level of politics and you unnecessarily weaken the necessary union of the left and the ecology”. For his part, LFI elected official Alexis Corbière preferred to decline the invitation, acknowledging that he would be “bad at seeing horror images”. “I think it’s a film worth seeing” he however indicated, very moved and on the verge of tears on BFMTV, speaking about his own children.