Alexis Delafontaine / Photo credits: LAETITIA NOTARIANNI / HANS LUCAS / HANS LUCAS VIA AFP
Jean-Luc Mélenchon and pro-Palestinian activist Rima Hassan are due to participate this Thursday in a conference organized by the “Free Palestine” association. The president of the Hauts-de-France region, Xavier Bertrand, is mobilizing to ban this conference.
New controversy for Jean-Luc Mélenchon? L’Insoumis is expected this Thursday at the University of Lille, accompanied by pro-Palestinian activist Rima Hassan, to participate in a conference organized by the student association “Libre Palestine” which defends the reestablishment of Palestine before the 1948 resolution, that is to say the erasure of Israel from the map. The conference is strongly contested by several elected officials, including Xavier Bertrand, president of Hauts-de-France, who requests its cancellation.
Feared anti-Semitic excesses
“This conference cannot take place. You have Mr. Mélenchon, who is going to come and hold a conference organized, hold on, by “Free Palestine” and with a logo which is the negation of the existence of Israel in its borders of 1948. No, but after a while, you still have to wake up!”
Xavier Bertrand asks the prefect of the North and the University of Lille to ban this conference because he fears anti-Semitic excesses on the part of La France insoumise. A fear shared by the National Rally and Renaissance. Macronist MP Violette Spillebout accuses Jean-Luc Mélenchon of being “the representation of the most violent anti-Semitism and of wanting to destroy Israel”.
For the moment, no decision has been taken by the prefect or the university. For its part, La France insoumise protects itself behind freedom of expression. A parade which allows Jean-Luc Mélenchon to continue trying to attract votes from the suburbs.