Following a decision by the administrative court in Nice, France, Israeli flags have been removed from City Hall.
The city’s mayor, Christian Estrosi, announced that the flags have been replaced by photos of hostages detained by Hamas in Gaza and of two French hostages held in Iran.
The announcement follows a decision by the administrative court, which, after several appeals, ordered the City Hall to remove the flags within five days, citing the principle of neutrality of public services.
The mayor had chosen to display the Israeli flags since the terrorist attacks of Oct. 7, 2023. Opponents of this decision accused him of supporting the Israeli government.
“I have been forced, by a court decision, to remove the Israeli flags from the town hall. I naturally respect and comply with my country’s judicial decision, but I refuse to equate an Islamist terrorist movement [i.e., Hamas] with a humanitarian gesture,” Estrosi wrote on X.
“Since Oct. 7, LFI [the far-left La France Insoumise, or ‘France Unbowed,’ Party] has been multiplying its antisemitic allusions and turning the Israeli flag into a symbol to be torn down,” he said.
On June 16, Laurent Hottiaux, the prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes department, asked the mayor to remove the Israeli flag and expressed his opposition to any foreign flag, whatever it may be, at town halls, “in the name of the principle of neutrality in public service.”
Estrosi said he had “made commitments to the people of Nice. I will continue to devote my energy to fighting all forms of antisemitism and anti-Zionism.”
Originally published by the European Jewish Press.