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Mélenchon says backing the Palestinian cause needs no reward
French left-wing leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon said people need no reward to stand up for the Palestinian cause, arguing in a TF1 Info interview that humans are social animals who instinctively feel the suffering of others.
French left-wing leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon said people do not need to expect any reward to stand up for the Palestinian cause, arguing that humans instinctively care about the suffering of others.
"We don't need to wait for any reward to commit ourselves to the Palestinian cause. We are social animals; we spontaneously feel concerned by the suffering of others," the France Unbowed leader said in an interview for TF1 Info's "Pourquoi Président(e)?" series ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
'The supreme form of altruism'
Mélenchon called acting without expecting anything in return "the supreme form of altruism." "Why am I concerned by events that take place at the other end of the earth? I don't expect any reward from it," he said.
He said thousands of people defend others around the world at their own risk, by joining protests that police do not accept, facing disapproval from those around them or donating money, without expecting anything back.
Turning point in 2009
Asked why he had become so engaged with the Palestinian issue later in life, Mélenchon said the turning point came in 2009 with Israel's Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, when he realized Palestinians were trapped in what had been described as an "open-air prison."
He said such commitment grows out of indignation, which in turn comes from "the feeling of the similarity of human beings," citing Aristotle's view that people are political animals because they are social animals.
The remarks came a day after Mélenchon joined a mass protest march in Paris, where Palestinian flags were visible among demonstrators. He has long been one of the most outspoken critics of Israel's war in Gaza in French politics.
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