Since April 17, a wave of mobilization against the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip, in retaliation for the Hamas attack on October 7, has swept across American campuses. A student movement which has spread around the world and reached Paris, Lausanne, Berlin, Montreal, Mexico and even Sydney. In France, the police evacuated pro-Palestinian activists who occupied the prestigious Parisian school Sciences Po on Friday. An evacuation of the premises had already taken place the previous week.
For Sarah Knafo, number 3 on the Reconquest list! in the European elections, guest of La Grande interview Europe 1-CNews on Monday, Sciences Po becomes “a ZAD”. “It’s a school that I know well, I studied there, I became a teacher there and I was a member of the admissions jury. When I first set foot at Sciences Po, I was I was intimidated because I was the first person in my family to have Sciences Po and even to take the Sciences Po exam and I was very proud. And today, when I see that, I’m not. no longer proud at all, I’m ashamed,” she begins.
“I am ashamed when I see hippies with keffiyehs who respond to Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s calls for order”
“I am ashamed when I see this school, which I know so well, becoming a ZAD. I am ashamed when I see hippies with keffiyehs who respond to Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s calls for order. I have ashamed when I see that the historic amphitheater of Sciences Po, which was called Boutmy, was renamed ‘Gaza’ and that a Jewish student was expelled there, it shames me”, she thunders at microphone from Europe 1.
“It was Hamas that declared war”
According to Sarah Knafo, “if we support the Palestinian cause, we must attack those responsible […] These leaders have a name, it’s called Hamas.” “It was Hamas which declared war on October 7. It is Hamas which embezzles international solidarity money and does not give it to civilian populations. It is Hamas which is preventing any ceasefire by still keeping hostages, including children. And it is again Hamas which endangers its civilian populations with the sole objective of exterminating Israel. If supporting Palestine means that Hamas is a resistance movement, never,” she continued.
Will the mobilizations in favor of the Palestinian cause continue this week? The High School Union (USL) called for “high school mobilization” this Monday in all establishments in France.