The French far-left was accused on Monday of having a tolerant stance towards Hamas’s “anti-Semitism”, “relativism” and “caution against terrorism”, following an attack on Israel.
On Saturday, in the first hours of the conflict, members of the France Insoumise (LFI) party maintained that the “offensive carried out by Palestinian forces” occurred “in a context of intensification of Israeli occupation policies.”
Some of its members, such as Louis Boyard, denounced “colonization and abuses in Palestine.”
The statements of the party leader, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, also caused a scandal in the country: “only violence is produced and reproduced.”
This speech was immediately condemned by the socialist allies of the LFI, highlighting their “disgust” at seeing men who belong to the terrorist group Hamas presented as “Palestinian armed forces”, when in reality they are “a terrorist organization”, recalled the socialist deputy Valérie Rabault. .
The coordinator of the LFI, Manuel Bompard, recognized on Monday on the France 2 television network the “war crimes” that “can be considered acts of terrorism.”
Jérôme Guedj, member of the Socialist Party (PS) in France, regretted the “exoneration” of Hamas, “due to the relativization of the name in the political impasse of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict” and the “prolongation of colonization” in the West Bank .
French socialists criticized the French party, La France Insoumise, for justifying the unprecedented attacks on Israel, which left hundreds of civilians dead. “Relativism is not possible,” said the leader of the French PS, Olivier Faure.
Socialist senator Laurence Rossignol added that insinuating that “Jews are always responsible for what happens to them” is “a constant in anti-Semitic discourse.”
French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne criticized the LFI party for its “disgusting ambiguities.”
The LFI coordinator defended the party against the accusations, urging his detractors to “file a complaint” and stressing that none of his comrades “has ever been accused of anti-Semitism.”
Other accusations come from the French far right, where the president of the National Front, Jordan Bardella, believes that the LFI “is the moral guarantor of Islamic terrorism.”
Bardella also called for the “judicialization of any form of absolution of terrorism and that “justice must systematically pursue them.”
These comments come in a very sensitive context in France, where several anti-Semitic attitudes have emerged since the Hamas attack on Israel. From the “threats to the Jews and Israel” to the “demonstration of flags in support of Palestine”, according to the Minister of the Interior, Gérard Darmanin.
Socialist Jérôme Guedj raised the question of the stability of the parliamentary coalition between his party and the LFI.
“It is time to end the erratic alliance with Jeal-Luc Mélanchon, with whom we have nothing in common,” commented Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo.
The Eiffel Tower, the most emblematic monument in Paris, was illuminated in the colors of the Israeli flag, blue and white.
Source: TSF
