After members of a French parliamentary committee that was meeting on Tuesday to discuss an upcoming visit by Palestinians officials began voicing harsh criticism of Israel, MP Meir Habib stood up and said, "The Jewish people have only one country – the Jewish state, which the Jewish people dreamed of for 2,000 years."
"I'm alone here, but I know the issue better than anyone," Habib declared.
"This little state [Israel] is barely the size of 2% of the territory of France," Habib added and said he wondered whether all the problems of the world stemmed from the Palestinian territories: "There is so much hypocrisy in the region. I'm begging, open your eyes," Habib, who represents French citizens overseas – including those who live in Israel – told his fellow MPs.
During the discussion, MP Christian Hutin spoke out against U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law and special adviser Jared Kushner, who is helping broker the administration's "deal of the century" for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
"Let's try and keep things balanced. One people has a state and the other doesn't. Trump's son-in-law certainly isn't the person to do anything about the matter, since he is already biased in favor of one side," Hutin said.
Habib responded by asking, "Because Kushner is Jewish?" which sparked an argument between Habib and a female MP from French President Emmanuel Macron's party, who shouted: "You're just a representative of the Likud – you aren't a representative of the French."
Habib left the committee after telling her that the perpetrators of the terrorist attacks at the Hyper Cacher supermarket and in the city of Toulouse had "killed in the name of Palestine."
Later in the meeting, MP Jean-Paul Lecoq referred to Israel as an "apartheid state" and claimed that "in France, there is a lot of talk about the apartheid policy in that territory. The Israel policy, and you won't stop me from thinking this, right now, is one of terrorism."
Lecoq added that it was unclear whether this was "terrorist politics," but said that "the policy is one of scaremongering, so there won't be any Palestinian identity or citizenship."
