On December 10th, Valérie Pécresse, the Mayor of Île-de-France, revoked the Simone Veil Prize awarded to Franco-Moroccan journalist Zineb El Rhazoui following a retweet that drew parallels between the Holocaust and Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip.
The controversy unfolded on December 9 when Rhazoui reposted, without comment, a thread originally published by journalist Benjamin Rubinstein on the X social media platform.
The thread compared the Israeli aggressions in Gaza to Nazi Germany’s Holocaust, sparking immediate criticism and controversy.
Aurélien Veil, the grandson of Simone Veil, expressed dismay at Rhazoui’s association with the prize named after his grandmother, a Holocaust survivor and feminist icon.
AurélienVeil said in a tweet that while individuals are entitled to their opinions, he found it troubling that his grandmother’s name was linked to the trivialization effort explicitly stated by Rhazoui.
Aurélien Veil called on Valérie Pecresse, the mayor of Île-de-France, to revoke Rhazoui’s Veil Prize, which she had won in 2019.
In response, Rhazoui released a public statement defending her position on the Gaza war and stressing the importance of prioritizing humanism over tribalism or politics.
Rhazoui, a former Charlie Hebdo journalist and former Nobel Prize nominee, took to social media to announce the return of her prize saying “I will give you back your Simone Veil Prize because it became tainted with blood.”
Rhazoui said that “If the Simone Veil Prize means remaining silent in the face of the internationally condemned criminal actions of Netanyahu’s far-right government, I would be very happy to return it.”
“By denouncing the mass crimes committed by Israel in Gaza, as well as the crimes of Hamas against Israeli civilians, I am honoring the legacy of Simone Veil more than ever,” further added Rhazoui.
The journalist also called for denouncing violence against civilians by any armed organizations, militias, or regular armies.
However, the mayor Valerie Pecresse, deemed Rhazoui’s post “outrageous and shocking.” In a press statement, Pecresse detailed the reasons behind revoking the journalist’s prize.
The controversy surrounding Rhazoui’s retweet has sparked a broader discussions over the West’s double standards.
X users pointed out that Rhazoui, known for her public criticism of Islam and Islamist movements, faced backlash when expressing her stance on Palestine.
“When she insulted Muslims and Islam, she was your ‘Marianne.’ Now that she criticizes the crimes and genocide of the criminal Zionist army, she has become nothing… you are exposed now. You receive orders, and you obey,” one user tweeted.
Another user said “Distressing and grotesque.What should we understand? That we don’t have the right to criticize Israel? Is Valérie Pécresse the thought police? What is this witch hunt, this kind of McCarthyism 2.0?!?”
The Simone Veil Prize, awarded to Zineb Rhazoui in 2019, recognized her work in defending secularism and fighting against obscurantism while advocating for gender equality.
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