An Israeli photographer has accused the far-right mayor of Perpignan, France, of politically exploiting his work in a controversial counter-exhibition about the October 7 Hamas attacks. The exhibition, organized alongside the prestigious Visa pour l'image photography festival, has sparked debate over political manipulation of photojournalism and the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict coverage.
Maël Benoliel, a French-Israeli photojournalist who has covered Middle East affairs since 2011, found himself at the center of controversy when his photographs documenting the October 7, 2023 Hamas massacres were displayed at Perpignan City Hall. The exhibition, titled "Israel, the October 7, 2023 Massacres," was commissioned by Mayor Louis Aliot of the National Rally party (Rassemblement National) as an apparent response to the main festival's coverage of the Gaza war.
The timing and presentation of the exhibition deliberately mimicked the official Visa pour l'image festival, using similar poster design and color schemes. Located at the entrance of City Hall, visitors initially mistook it for one of the festival's 25 official exhibitions. However, the display was completely independent, organized without any consultation with festival organizers. Even Jean-François Leroy, the festival director, only learned of its existence when it was announced to the public.
Benoliel revealed that he was initially contacted by the "October 7 Collective," which served as an intermediary between the city hall and photographers. He was told he would be participating in a group exhibition featuring several photographers who had documented the massacres. "I accepted without researching the political orientation of the city," Benoliel told France 3 in an interview. "Several months passed without news. Suddenly, everything accelerated this summer and this exhibition ended up taking place."
The photographer discovered the true nature of the exhibition through social media, as he was not invited to the opening ceremony. To his surprise, he found that he was the sole photographer featured, contrary to what he had been told. More troubling were the factual errors in the photo captions. One particularly egregious mistake showed a photograph of a dead Hamas terrorist fighter lying on the ground, but the caption incorrectly labeled it as "Victim of Hamas."
These errors highlighted what Benoliel described as a lack of rigor that could have been avoided with proper consultation during the preparation process. "My approach is purely journalistic, even artistic," the photographer emphasized repeatedly. "Where I felt somewhat deceived was by the political manipulation that was made of this exhibition."
Mayor Louis Aliot defended the exhibition as an important reminder of how the current conflict began. "It's an important reminder about the beginning of this conflict. We cannot talk about Gaza if we don't talk about the October 7 massacre," the National Rally politician told journalist Júlia Taurinya. Aliot appeared uncomfortable with the fact that the prestigious photography festival, a historic pride of his city, was showcasing the war in Gaza alongside other global conflicts.
This controversy follows a pattern of political interference by Aliot. The previous year, the mayor had refused to present the city's Visa d'Or prize to Gaza photographer Loay Ayyoub, accusing him of "supporting Hamas." This year, Aliot revived the controversy by organizing the counter-exhibition without any consultation with Visa pour l'image organizers. He justified his approach by stating: "The festival has its programming in which I do not intervene, but I do not forbid the city hall from organizing exhibitions in complete freedom."
According to Aliot, the October 7 Collective plans to move the exhibition to other cities in southern France, with Toulouse mentioned as an example. This aligns with Benoliel's wishes to see his work depoliticized. "It would be appropriate for this exhibition to travel to city halls that are not stamped with the National Rally label," the photographer said. "I believe it is necessary for people in Perpignan and elsewhere to be informed about what happened on October 7 on Israeli territory."
The October 7 attacks resulted in approximately 1,200 deaths. Of the 251 people kidnapped by Hamas, 49 remain held in the enclave according to AFP count, with 27 presumed dead by Israeli authorities. Since that day and the subsequent Israeli invasion, 60,000 people have been killed in Gaza, with 80% being civilians. The exhibition controversy reflects broader tensions about how media and cultural institutions navigate coverage of the ongoing conflict while maintaining journalistic integrity and avoiding political manipulation.
