French MP Suspended for Raising Palestinian Flag

Several LFI (France Unbowed party) deputies, including Sebastien Delogu, participate in a pro-Palestinian rally in Paris.

France's parliament suspended a left-wing lawmaker for two weeks after he held up a Palestinian flag during a heated debate over whether France should recognise Palestinian statehood, as President Emmanuel Macron said such a step should not be based on "emotion".

Sebastien Delogu, a member of parliament for the France Unbowed party from the southern city of Marseille, stood up with the flag during questions to the government.

Parliament speaker Yael Braun-Pivet denounced what she called unacceptable behavior, and lawmakers voted to suspend Delogu for two weeks and cut his parliamentary allowance by half for two months.

Delogu left the lower chamber making a V-sign for victory, as right-wing and centrist lawmakers inside applauded the sanctions against him. Some deputies exchanged heated words outside the chamber.

"I am proud today to spend 15 days on the streets alongside people who are fighting," says the member of parliament, who was suspended from the Assembly for waving a Palestinian flag.

His suspension came on the day Spain, Ireland and Norway formally recognised Palestinian statehood in a coordinated decision that has infuriated Israel.

Their move brings to 145 out of the 193 UN member states that have recognised a Palestinian state.

But no member of the Group of Seven industrial powers -- including France, Britain and the United States -- have done so.

Macron had said in February that recognising a Palestinian state was no longer "taboo".

The latest Gaza war has sparked tensions in France, a country with the largest Jewish community of any country after Israel and the United States, as well as Europe's biggest Muslim community.