Last August 15, an anonymous group of french mountaineers hoisted a giant Palestinian flag on the western face of Les Drus in the Mont Blanc massif, “a symbolic gesture to denounce the genocide in Gaza and the inaction of Western governments.” As with the 100 Summits for Gaza operation in 2024, the mountain here becomes a political and humanist megaphone.
«On Saturday, August 16, and Sunday, August 17, we hung a giant Palestinian flag on an iconic rock face in Chamonix to draw attention to the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the inaction of Western governments in the face of the crimes committed by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government,” announced an anonymous group of mountaineers. The flag was then removed from the western face of Les Drus, in the Mont Blanc massif, by the High Mountain Police Squad (PGHM), dispatched expressly by the Prefecture. The PGHM had “orders to remove it in the early hours of the day,” according to our source, which was not done until midday yesterday, Sunday.
This political action reminds us of another, dating back to 2024: 100 summits for Gaza. “Palestinian flags were hoisted on the summits, from Vercors to Grande Lauzière, from Ubaye to Monts d’Arrée, in Finistère. Five months after the start of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, as bombs continue to fall on Gaza, “100 summits for Gaza” is a way of supporting the people of Gaza and calling for a ceasefire. Hoisting a flag as a gesture of “solidarity”—and, needless to say, apolitical and ‘pacifist’—doesn’t cost anything, does it?” we wrote at the time.
©French Gaza Collective
The fabric flag was attached below the Papas ledge, on the west face of Les Drus.
Has a symbol of hope for an oppressed people become an offense?
In mid-August 2025, politics and the mountain community are once again joining forces: “We, as mountaineers, refuse to allow the world of sport and outdoor activities to remain silent in the face of genocide. Sport has always been a political lever, and using this means of expression to convey a humanist message seemed obvious to us,” continue the mountaineers with the flag.
“Initially planned to be hung for three days, the authorities deployed significant resources to try to remove it by helicopter from this steep and difficult-to-access face. The disproportionate mobilization of the gendarmerie to remove this flag […] raises questions for us: has a symbol of hope for an oppressed people become an offense?”
©French Gaza Collective
The PGHM rushed to remove the flag on July 17th.
As Thibault Cattelain set out to conquer the peaks of the Écrins with Summits4Ukraine to provide financial and social support to Ukrainians, the anonymous group of mountaineers wanted to convey a message of hope, mutual aid, peace, and solidarity. And not to remain silent in the face of the situation. “We, as mountaineers, have chosen the mountains to send this visual cry to the world. Hanging this flag is a reminder that no wall, no matter how high, can hide the truth: a people is being exterminated, before the eyes of the world.”
These scraps of fabric are not an appropriation,
just a reminder that we cannot look away
At the beginning of the war, we wrote: “I can already hear those who will say, what are those flags doing on top of the mountains, leave them alone. […] I would respond that for ages, mountains have been megaphones, symbols through which we can communicate—including love and freedom, like these hearts of light and hope in the midst of Covid. The mountain is not a Truman Show where Jim Carreys flourish. […] These pieces of fabric that flew on the peaks for the duration of a photo are not an appropriation, just a reminder that everyone, in France and elsewhere, cannot look away. These makeshift flags are a citizen’s call for peace.”