Mia Schem, a former Hamas hostage in Gaza. (Courtesy of the family)
Mia Schem: “I refused to give up. I took the yellow hostage pin from one of the members of the delegation and wore it on my dress.”
By Vered Weiss, World Israel News
Guards forced former Hamas captive Mia Schem to remove a hostage ribbon at the Cannes film festival.
At the closing red carpet event on Saturday evening, security guards at the entrance forbade her from wearing a ribbon that said, “Bring Them Home Now!”
Schem told the Israeli news site N12, “I came to help in the fight to return the kidnapped. Unfortunately, at the entrance to the red carpet, the festival management confiscated the ribbon I was supposed to wear. I refused to give up. I took the yellow hostage pin from one of the members of the delegation and wore it on my dress,” she said.
The local Jewish community invited Schem, who is a dual French and Israeli citizen, to raise awareness about the hostages remaining in Gaza.
During her visit, she met with Nice Mayor Christian Paul Gilbert Estrosi, who told her that her mother and brother visited him to advocate for her release.
Schem spoke before the Nice City Council and was received with a round of applause.
Her warm welcome during various meetings in Nice is in stark contrast to celebrity protests against Israel during the festival.
More than 370 celebrities signed a petition protesting Israel’s operations in Gaza and the death of Fatima Hassouna, the young Gazan photojournalist featured in the documentary “Put Your Soul in Your Hand and Walk,” which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.
The petition features prominent names such as Joaquin Phoenix, Riz Ahmed, Pedro Pascal, Guillermo del Toro and Juliette Binoche.
During a screening of the film “Once Upon a Time in Gaza,” directors Arab and Tarzan Nasser protested against Israel, claiming that “Gaza is undergoing the greatest and most horrific genocide in modern history.”
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange arrived at an official festival event wearing a jacket that read “Stop Israel” and a shirt with about 5,000 names of children who were allegedly killed as a result of IDF bombings in the Gaza Strip.
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