Alexis Delafontaine / Photo credit: Alexandre Bre / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP
During a meeting for the Europeans in Montpellier on Sunday, activists and elected officials from France Insoumise condemned Israel, just hours after the missile and drone attack launched by Iran on the Hebrew state. A clearly assumed anti-Zionist position, less than three months before the European elections.
The French political class has expressed its shock after the drone and missile attack launched by Iran on Israel. A unanimous condemnation but with nuances. Marine Le Pen found it “unacceptable that Israel once again sees its right to security called into question”. On the other hand, the candidate in an eligible position on the European list of France Insoumise, Rima Hassan, puts Iran and Israel back to back during a meeting on Sunday in Montpellier. A strategy now assumed by Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s troops: anti-Zionism is part of the campaign axis for June 9.
Anti-Israel slogans and condemnations of the role of the Jewish state
Sunday, in Montpellier, to warm up the room before Manon Aubry’s meeting, the thousands of activists present chanted anti-Israeli slogans. “Israel, assassin, Macron, accomplice” or “Israel, get out of it, Palestine is not yours”, they hammered in particular, keffiyeh on their heads and Palestinian flags visible in the room.
On stage, the speakers take turns condemning the Israeli state. Some rebellious deputies go even further, like Ersilia Soudais who accuses Israel of having declared war on Iran after the attacks on Saturday evening. It puts “these two theocracies” back to back, even though Israel is the only secular democracy in the Middle East.
To prevent this type of slippage from occurring in his region of Hauts-de-France, Xavier Bertrand has just asked the prefect of the North to ban the conference of Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Rima Hassan which is to be held this Thursday at the University of Lille.