The opening of this preliminary investigation follows the complaint of the UEJF and the association J’accuse following the sending of several thousand text messages signed by the name of the far-right candidate redirecting to a “Message to the French of the Jewish faith”. The Cnil had also opened an investigation into the subject.
The business of canvassing by SMS signed Eric Zemmour of French of Jewish confession had already caused the opening of an investigation of the National Commission of data processing and freedoms (Cnil). Justice is now seizing this case with the opening, this Tuesday, of a preliminary investigation by the Paris prosecutor’s office. This announcement follows the complaint against X filed Monday by the Union of Jewish Students of France (UEJF) and the association J’accuse. The case had emerged on Friday, April 8.
A few hours before the start of the electoral reserve period, several thousand French Jews were surprised to receive an SMS from the far-right candidate. It included a link redirecting to a page published by the Reconquest party and featuring a text entitled “Message from Eric Zemmour to French people of the Jewish faith”. A judged writing “aggressive” by Marc Knobel, president of J’accuse, a text calling for the vote for the far-right candidate with a “outrageous, disturbing and unacceptable language”. So much for the substance.
But it is much more the form of this approach that outrages the two associations at the origin of the complaint. This mass sending of SMS implies the prior constitution of a nominative file showing the origin of the persons concerned. “A candidate for the presidential election dared to establish or fraudulently obtain a clandestine file of tens of thousands of Jews (or reputed to be such) with their telephone numberswrite the lawyers in their complaint, specifying that it is about “ the most massive exploitation of nominative lists of Jews since the Vel’ d’Hiv roundup”. They also denounce a “unprecedented aggression against the principles of the Republic”.
An “extremely shocking” process
The penal code stipulates that the fact of storing in computerized memory personal data revealing religious opinions is punishable by five years’ imprisonment and a fine of 300,000 euros. With BFM TV, Eric Zemmour’s campaign team explained that it was not directly at the origin of this filing. She would have used a “broker”, that is to say a broker in personal data which constitutes databases after having collected them from several sources. This service provider would therefore have relied on blogs, information sites or newsletters to target people who had shown an interest in “the subject of anti-Semitism in France and in Europe”, according to Reconquest.
Marc Knobel, himself a historian working on anti-Semitism, did not however receive the text message from the far-right candidate. He therefore doubts the version of his campaign team. “She will have to answer precisely the questions that will be put to her during the investigation. Light must be shed.” consider whoever judges the process “extremely shocking”. “French people of the Jewish faith no more than any other French people of any faith should receive targeted SMS messages that they did not want. This is despicable electoral propaganda.he concludes.