The town hall of Nice on the French Riviera has caused outrage by flying the flag of Israel and proclaiming its support for the Jewish state against terrorism.

Christian Estrosi, they Mayor of the south-eastern city of Nice on the French Riviera, posted a photograph on Twitter showing the Israeli flag flying alongside the French flag.

He captioned the tweet: “In the face of Hamas’ terrorism, all our thoughts and our support to Israel.”

The Israeli Embassy in France was quick to tweet its gratitude for the move, saying: “Honour and homage to the city of Nice and gratitude to its mayor Christian Estrosi for this exemplary mark of solidarity. Our two flags side by side are the symbol of our resistance to terrorism and of our attachment to our common values, which will prevail.”

But Netizens have largely been critical of the move.

Netizen ‘Waksayy’ said: “Can you explain to us what this foreign flag does on the facade of our town hall? So, are you aware of the repeated sanctions by the UN against this state? This is not your personal pavilion, but a PUBLIC MONUMENT.” (sic)

While ‘Tucciii’ said: “Killed in the last 12 years of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (does not include this year): Israel: 251; Palestine: 5,590.”

And ‘iamnath’ said: “Surprising position taken on this conflict of which we are told that it should especially not be imported into France. Surprising banner on the front of a public building when foreign flags are usually considered offensive.”

While ‘Damokis’ claimed: “Let me remind you that Mr Estrosi made a donation of EUR 10,000 in 2014 to Israel with public money in order to repair the cities affected by events like this.”

The spokesperson for ‘Jeunesse au sein de La France insoumise’ (a youth movement affiliated with the La France insoumise, left-wing political party), David Guiraud, strongly criticised the move, recalling that Christian Estrosi had taken a decree against the display of foreign flags in certain neighbourhoods during the football World Cup in 2014, even refusing to withdraw it after the decree was suspended by the courts. Guiraud has labelled the move “a typical example of nationalism in the service of racism”.

Just over an hour after the initial tweet, the mayor posted a second tweet, hastily adding: “And all our thoughts to Palestinians who are only the hostages of a small terrorist group, Hamas.”

The move comes a few days after Austria hoisted the Israeli flag on top of the Federal Chancellery, prompting Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to cancel his visit to see his counterpart in Vienna.

The move was heavily criticised by countries supportive of the Palestinian cause, including Turkey, with the Turkish presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin tweeting: “Austrian PM has Israeli flag hoisted on top of Austrian Prime Ministry to support Israel. This is what encourages Israel to continue its attacks on Palestinian people. I hope those Austrians and Europeans with a sense of reason and morality will reject this disgraceful politics.”