Overview
- Strasbourg suspended its partnership with the Israeli city of Ramat Gan and days later hosted an Aida refugee‑camp delegation to seal a new twinning with a West Bank municipality.
- France’s anti-racism group LICRA terminated its educational partnership with the city, saying the mayor was stoking antisemitism.
- During the twinning event, Barseghian appeared in a keffiyeh before a map on which Israel did not appear, a scene that intensified criticism.
- Opposition figures contend she is instrumentalizing the issue as she seeks another term, a run she has already announced.
- Critics cite a broader pattern that includes her 2021 rejection of the IHRA antisemitism definition, a mosque grant later annulled by an administrative court, and the brief Israeli flag display replaced by a peace banner after October 7.