Le Journal du Dimanche, a.k.a. JDD, a French weekly newspaper published on Sundays in France, this week pondered whether Rima Hassan’s presence on the board of directors of Doctors Without Borders France (Médecins Sans Frontières, or MSF) two explains the NGO’s pro-Hamas orientation since October 7.
Rima Hassan Mobarak, 32, is a human rights activist and politician of “French-Palestinian” descent, born in a refugee camp near Aleppo, Syria. She moved to France at age nine, and her family settled in Niort. In 2019, she became involved with the Refugee Camps Observatory, a non-governmental organization focused on the study and protection of refugee camps globally. In 2023, she established the Action Palestine France collective and was subsequently elected to the European Parliament on June 9, 2024.
In August 2023, Forbes recognized Hassan as one of the “40 exceptional women who have marked the year and who have made France shine internationally.” However, in January 2024, this recognition faced criticism from Yonathan Arfi, the president of the Conseil Représentatif des Institutions Juives de France (Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions, or CRIF), who accused her of “justifying the atrocities of October 7” committed by Hamas. Additionally, television presenter Arthur claimed she was “apologizing for terrorism.” In light of this controversy, Forbes decided to cancel the awards ceremony. In retaliation, Hassan filed a defamation lawsuit against Arthur.
On August 22, 2024, members of the president’s Renaissance Party expressed their intention to request the public prosecutor to revoke Hassan’s parliamentary immunity due to her participation in a pro-Hamas demonstration in Amman, Jordan. They labeled her as “pro-Hamas,” citing placards at the demonstration honoring Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh who had just been assassinated in Tehran.
DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS, FRANCE
In fifty years, MSF has gone from being a small association of “French doctors” to a global movement operating in 90 countries. The NGO has greatly diversified its activities, going so far as to rescue migrants in the Mediterranean near the Libyan coast, defying European rules on migration policy.
For the past year, MSF has been under fire for its highly pro-Hamas communications. In Gaza, the NGO has eight hundred local collaborators on whom it relies to supply the press with testimonies without being able to verify the information. Thus, at the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, MSF broadcasted fake news about the attack on Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza, which made the rounds of all the major international media. The association also claimed to be unaware that Al-Shifa hospital was used as a combat base by Hamas terrorists, despite testimonies and videos posted on social media showing hostages being forcibly taken by armed men in the corridors of the building.
Last June, a doctor from the NGO confirmed to JDD that part of the Al-Shifa hospital was closed to caregivers by armed men well before the start of the conflict and that he had alerted his superiors about this situation. These facts were contested by the management of MSF France.
When questioned, the association described JDD’s investigation as a “dangerous and irresponsible approach” that “supports the rhetoric of the Israeli authorities.” The best defense remains an attack. But this response seems very weak given the seriousness of the accusations made by former members of the NGO. Starting with those of the former secretary general of MSF, Alain Destexhe, who published a report in which he accuses the association of being an accomplice of Hamas and of having gone beyond the humanitarian framework to become politicized.
The NGO has never condemned the violations of humanitarian law committed by Hamas in Gaza, according to the Destexhe report, which analyzed the publications of MSF and its employees on social networks for several months.
Officially guided by the principles of “neutrality and impartiality,” around fifty MSF employees have nevertheless defended the massacres of October 7. Some were even involved in terrorist organizations – like Fadi Al-Wadiya, a member of the Islamic Jihad who was killed by the IDF last June. “He was a specialist in the manufacture and use of missiles and rockets,” IDF spokesperson Olivier Rafowicz told JDD.
How many have infiltrated the NGO? It is impossible to obtain a precise figure. Rafowicz confirms, however, that “terrorist elements use the cover of international organizations to carry out war activity against Israel.”
DOCTORS WITHOUT MORAL BOUNDARIES
Other worrying figures have also emerged from the Destexhe report, such as Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta, the doctor who testified on numerous media outlets (including the BBC) about the “massacre of five hundred civilians at Al-Ahli hospital” following an Israeli bombing. In reality, it was a failed rocket attack by Hamas, the toll of which is estimated at around fifty deaths.
On social media, Abu Sitta called on fellow Gaza Arabs “to fight and die as martyrs.” These positions earned him a report from Germany and a ban on entry into the Schengen Zone for advocating terrorism, radicalization, and antisemitism. This did not prevent EELV (Ecologists party) senator Raymonde Poncet-Monge from inviting him to the Senate last May to share his testimony with elected officials. Why invite an Islamist who spreads fake news to the French Parliament? An embarrassing question on which the senator (contacted by the JDD) does not wish to dwell.
In France, Médecins Sans Frontières also seems to have its dark side. Ghassan Abou Chaar, vice-president of MSF France, published a very ambiguous message on X after the attack on October 7, asking “people to be informed before spitting.” A disturbing call for restraint in the face of the emotion of the moment and the barbarity implemented that day.
But what is most surprising are the links between MSF France and the activist Rima Hassan. Before being elected Member of the European Parliament, the political activist was part of the board of directors of MSF France between 2021 and 2022 as a co-opted member and in her capacity as founder and president of the Observatory of Refugee Camps. What was her role? When contacted, the elected representative of La France Insoumise did not want to answer JDD’s questions.
“MSF has become a politically engaged organization.” This is the main criticism made off the record by its former members who no longer identify with the NGO created in 1971. Few dare to speak publicly about an organization that received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999 and is worth several billion euros internationally.
In France, MSF is doing well. 98% of its financial resources come from private funds. In 2023, the overall budget of MSF France was 580 million euros via contributors and partners as diverse as they are contradictory (the L’Oréal Fund for Women, CMA CGM Foundation, Air France, Rhône Mosque Council). Some town halls also provide financial support to the association, which saves many human lives. Bordeaux, for example, subsidizes the MSF logistics site (20,000 euros in 2023 and 2024) based in Mérignac, on the outskirts of the city.
In short, MSF is a corporation and a brand, and no one will dare to mess with a half-billion-euro outfit. Hamas chose well.
