“Nothing is incorrect with these feedback. Enough now! » | EUROtoday

Having come to assist the candidates of La France insoumise (LFI) at Lyon city corridor on the night of Thursday February 26, Jean-Luc Mélenchon was as soon as once more accused of anti-Semitism.

For about twenty seconds, the chief of LFI targeted on the pronunciation of the title of Jeffrey Epstein, American youngster molester, who died in jail in 2019 and whose a number of relationships in financial and political circles had been revealed after the publication of paperwork by the American administration.

“Unless it’s the case [èpchtaïne]. Ah, I meant [èpstine]pardon. It looks more Russian, [èpstine]eh… ” In this case, Mr. Mélenchon is incorrect: in Russian, Epstein is written Эпштейн and is pronounced “èpchtéïne”. And to proceed: “So now you will say [ènnstine] instead of[ènnchtaïne], [frankenstine] instead of [frankenchtaïne]. Well, there you go, right? Everyone understands how to do it…”

His feedback triggered the president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France, Yonathan Arfi, to react: “With all due respect to Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a fifth grader knows that in English “Epstein” is pronounced “Epstine”he wrote on X. The journalists due to this fact solely pronounce an American title… within the American approach. Seeing manipulation on this pronunciation is a conspiratorial delusion with actual anti-Semitic overtones”he added.

“Everyone should clean up”

Many political leaders, beginning with the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, reacted to the phrases of the “rebellious” chief. “It was a fortnight ago”wrote the top of state on the social community “far-left anti-Semitism”.

Government spokesperson Maud Bregeon estimated that LFI has established “political violence and anti-Semitism in electoral strategy”in an interview with Figaro. “Anti-Semitic abuses are now openly acknowledged. The affiliation with small violent groups, like the Young Guard, too”she additionally identified.

“All limits have been crossed by Jean-Luc Mélenchon (…) Anti-Semitism is a monstrosity »denounced former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal.

“It’s obviously the codes of anti-Semitism, it’s unacceptable”mentioned, for his half, the previous Minister of the Economy Eric Lombard on RTL, whereas the Minister Delegate chargeable for equality between women and men, Aurore Bergé, judged that “anti-Semitism in France is written in three letters: LFI”. Before including, on X, that “face [aux “insoumis”]there is just one potential angle: fight. Let everybody take their duties. Everyone ought to clear up. Not a voice for these anti-Semites. »

Traveling to Angers (Maine-et-Loire), the Minister of the Interior, Laurent Nuñez, condemned “very firmly the words of Jean-Luc-Mélenchon” : “At some point, the masks have to come off. We don’t play with words like that, (…) and on a form of ambiguity so as not to name things. (…) This is not acceptable. »

The president of the National Rally, Jordan Bardella, denounced a gathering “brutal, chilling, with openly anti-Semitic overtones”.

“Nothing is wrong with these words”

Even amongst LFI’s former left-wing allies, the exit triggered outrage. “He who fights fascism is anti-fascist, not he who reuses its most dangerous means”tweeted the primary secretary of the Socialist Party (PS), Olivier Faure.

“Nothing is wrong with these comments. Nothing. Enough now! »exclaimed the leader of the Ecologists, Marine Tondelier, while former president François Hollande accused the one he worked with at the PS of having “ended up falling into anti-Semitic formulas”.

Laurence Rossignol, PS senator from Val-de-Marne, denounced, for her half, on the identical community, the truth that a “political leader [fasse] laughing in a room while reciting Jewish names, emphasizing their pronunciation, with a grin of hatred”. By bidding: “It no longer has anything to do with Gaza. It only has to do with the most terrifying anti-Semitism. »

Jean-Luc Mélenchon responded with the attack. “I was ironic about wanting to make “Epstine” a reputation to “russify” the issue. Dismaying response from those that see it as anti-Semitism”he wrote about X, noting a approach of “deliberately incite violence against LFI”. For him, “anti-Semitism is on the side of those who want to bring everything back to this subject”.

“The “rebels” had been the primary to denounce the anti-Semitic exploitation of the Epstein affair”affirmed the nationwide coordinator of LFI, Manuel Bompard, denouncing “a cabal” in opposition to the novel left motion.

Accusations of anti-Semitism are rising in opposition to Jean-Luc Mélenchon, significantly for the reason that assaults of October 7, 2023 in Israel. Like when he felt that anti-Semitism was “residual” in France in 2024 whereas assaults in opposition to the Jewish neighborhood had been on the rise. Or like when he focused his former protégé, the socialist deputy Jérôme Guedj, from a Sephardic Jewish household, by mentioning “the leash of its adhesions”. Jean-Luc Mélenchon has all the time denied these accusations.