Who is Rima Hassan, European Parliament MP accompanying Greta Thunberg to Gaza
Israel intercepted the Gaza bound Freedom flotilla and prevented the activists onboard from reaching the blockaded Palestine territory. The boat named Madleen embarked from the Sicilian port of Catania from June 1 to deliver aid to Gaza. Among those onboard the ship are Rima Hassan, French-Palestinian member of European Parliament.
Born Rima Hassan Mobarak in Aleppo, Syria, she is a French jurist and politician. At the age of nine she arrived in France and settled with her family in Niort. After becoming an adult, she obtained french nationalisty and started pursuing studies. She studied in University of Montpellier, until 2014 and pursued studies in law and obtained her bachelor's degree. For masters in international law she went to Panthéon-Sorbonne University.
Also read: Greta Thunberg's Freedom Flotilla 'attacked'? Crew claims drones dropped white substance on them
In 2019, Hassan founded the 'Refugee Camps Observatory', an NGO dedicated to the study and protection of refugee camps worldwide. Hassan joined the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (OFPRA) in 2016 and and after 18 months, she worked at the National Court of Asylum Law. In 2023, she joined La France Insoumise to contest the 2024 European Parliament election and was elected to the European Parliament on 9 June 2024.
Currently, she serves as a member of the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Subcommittee on Human Rights, and the Delegation for Relations with Palestine.
Hassan has been vocal about the conditions of refugees and has voiced concerns about the health and security effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in refugee camps. Since the beginning of the Gaza war, she has also been critical of the actions taken by Israel. In an interview with the French newspaper Le Monde, she expressed her view on the Israel Palestine war saying that the creation of a democratic bi-national state is the solution to the conflict. On 24 February 2025, Hassan was denied entry to Israel as part of an EU-Palestine delegation, with Israeli authorities citing her support for anti-Israel boycotts.
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