"Horror. Consternation. Anguish." It was in striking silence, Tuesday afternoon, in the Assembly, that Yaël Braun-Pivet took the floor. The Speaker of the National Assembly introduces the minute of silence in support of the victims of the terrible terror attack provoked by Hamas this weekend in Israel. In the ranks, the emotion was certainly palpable, but as is often the case at the Palais Bourbon, the tension dominated.
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- LIVE - Follow Hamas' attack on Israel
Once again, it was the Insoumises who ignited the powder keg on Saturday by initially refusing to condemn the Hamas assaults, calling them simply an "armed offensive by the Palestinian forces." Jean-Luc Mélenchon's troops almost immediately drew the wrath of the entire political class, even their own allies in the Nupes. Many of their opponents have been waiting for this special session of questions to the government to settle scores.
Read alsoAfter its ambiguous reactions on Hamas, LFI sets the Nupes ablaze
Even on the benches of the Insoumis, the divisions are evident
In the Chamber, it is therefore time for explanations. The staging as well. When the president of the LFI group, Mathilde Panot, took the floor to call on the government to "take back the language of peace", the LR deputies, led by their group president, Olivier Marleix, left the Assembly. Followed, a few minutes later, by some Renaissance parliamentarians. "You are the shame of this Assembly," said Macronist MP François Cormier-Bouligeon, referring to LFI.
Even on the benches of the Insoumis, the divisions are obvious. Fractures are expressed. Especially when the other groups of the Nupes are expressing themselves. With their heads bowed, the coordinator of the movement, Manuel Bompard, and the group president, Mathilde Panot, did not glance at the left-wing speakers, while some of the Insoumise deputies applauded them frankly. Cheers that annoy. A discreet but frank altercation took place between Manuel Bompard and the Insoumise MP Danielle Simonnet when the latter stood up to give the leader of the Socialists, Olivier Faure, a standing ovation. It was a non-event, the deputy would later tell Le Figaro.
In the Chamber, Marine Le Pen is finally savouring her one-day support
Meanwhile, when Marine Le Pen took the floor to denounce "a crime against humans, but also against peace", sincere applause was heard on the benches of the right, and even on those of the presidential camp. The same morning, at a meeting of the presidents of the Assembly, the RN leader had nevertheless seemed very isolated in her desire to organize a tribute rally of all the parliamentarians, tricolor scarves on their shoulders, in the courtyard of the Palais Bourbon. A request refused by all the group leaders and by the President of the Assembly, provoking the anger of the MP for Pas-de-Calais. But in the Chamber, the former finalist of the presidential election is finally relishing his one-day support. Her smile is satisfied, while Mathilde Panot remains with her eyes glued to her mobile phone.
Read alsoIsrael, minute of silence: Marine Le Pen's outburst of anger against Yaël Braun-Pivet
'Unacceptable'
Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne responded at length to the various speakers, claiming Israel's right to "defend itself in the face of terrorism" and its desire to find a "political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict". Before letting go, without a glance at the Insoumis: "I find it shocking and distressing to hear dissonant voices even in these benches." The deputies of the presidential camp and the LR stand up, without a bang. They don't want to add to it. The subject is too serious, the shock wave too great.
Further behind the scenes, outside the Chamber, this day will also be remembered as the day when the NUPES intergroup seemed to be on the verge of collapse. Just before lunchtime, while they were in a group meeting, the Socialist deputies discovered on X - ex-Twitter - Mathilde Panot's latest outing at a press conference. Pressed by a journalist, the president of the LFI group has just refused to describe Hamas as a "terrorist" organization. "It is the armed wing that is now responsible for war crimes," she says simply. The blood of the socialists is boiling. At the very tough meeting of the NUPES intergroup held earlier in the morning, they had nevertheless urged the Mélenchonists to rectify their position. To no avail.
The Insoumises put a new stab in the contract. We're going to think about how we're going to continue to work together... Or not
Fabien Roussel, National Secretary of the French Communist Party (PCF)
"Unacceptable. Hamas is a terrorist organization. Not the regular army of Palestine. Their actions must be condemned as their political project, which is not peace, the two-state solution, but the destruction of the State of Israel," Olivier Faure, the first secretary of the Socialist Party, said in a tweet after his meeting. In front of a few journalists, Socialist MP Jérôme Guedj went even further: "We have to mark the occasion. To tell the Insoumises that if they want us to continue the Nupes, especially until 2027, this obliges us mutually." He added that, in his opinion, in view of recent events, "the logic of the intergroup is no longer operational", that "everything is a bit levitating". The PS group has also announced the suspension of its parliamentary work for a "counter-budget" of the Nupes.
The Communist Fabien Roussel was furious: "The Insoumises are putting a new stab in the contract. We're going to think about how we're going to continue to work together... or not," warns the national secretary of the PCF. Like the rest of the ecologist group, the deputy, Julien Bayou, prefers to remind him that the urgency is above all in the Middle East, which is therefore very far from the affairs of the Nupes. But he sighs all the same: "Frankly, what did it cost the Insoumises to say that Hamas had carried out terrorist attacks?"