LFI MP Clémentine Autain noted on Tuesday that the fight against anti-Semitism was “historically” left-wing and that the latter should “not put this issue aside”. “How can we imagine that the fight against anti-Semitism is not a fight of the left?” declared on France Inter the MP for Seine-Saint-Denis while her party, LFI, is accused by the majority and the right of fueling anti-Semitism by not condemning clearly enough the massacres perpetrated by Hamas in Israel on October 7.
“The theorists of anti-Semitism come from the extreme right”
“I am quite stunned to see that there is an absolutely crazy historical change, as if we had forgotten History. Where does anti-Semitism come from? Who theorized it? The theorists of anti-Semitism, what “either Drumont, whether it’s Maurras, others, they come from the extreme right,” she explained. And “historically, we carried it”, this fight, she added. In France, since October 7, 1,040 anti-Semitic acts have been committed, announced Sunday the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, estimating that “rebellious France, the extreme left of Jean-Luc Mélenchon did not help us to national harmony.
Evoking “tragic” facts, Clémentine Autain estimated that “frightening, anti-Semitic stereotypes haunt our country”. “On the left, we must have this responsibility not to put this question to one side.” “We are in the process of reversing values: we are the historical proponents of human emancipation, normally the fight against all racism and against anti-Semitism, we must carry it,” continued the MP.
Questioned Monday on Sud Radio, former president François Hollande estimated that Jean-Luc Mélenchon “is not anti-Semitic”. “But through comments, developments, arguments that are not, he can unwittingly encourage anti-Semitic movements,” he regretted.