“I don’t understand how you can be involved in politics if you’re not an activist.”
Born to Palestinian asylum seekers in a refugee camp in northern Syria, French MEP Rima Hassan has been preparing for the political arena her whole life.
“In politics, everything is driven by activism, by convictions. Otherwise it’s just administrative work.”
Even before her term as member of the European Parliament for the Left party started in 2024, she took to the streets among pro-Palestine and pro-democracy rallies.
In 2025, she was captured and arrested by Israeli armed forces for attempting to deliver aid to Gaza on the Global Sumund Flotilla.
