La France insoumise (LFI) is at the heart of a new controversy. Its leaders wish to attend the tribute which will be organized, Wednesday February 7, for the French victims of the Hamas attack against Israel, while certain families refuse the arrival of the radical left movement.
The coordinator of LFI, Manuel Bompard, announced on Sunday February 4 on BFM-TV that he had “intent to participate”. He is “normal for the nation to pay tribute to the victims”he added, assuring ” share “ there ” penalty “ and the ” grief “ families, without “desire to mix a national tribute with a political moment”.
The leader of the “rebellious” deputies, Mathilde Panot, had already declared that she would go to the ceremony, wishing that tribute be paid “to all the French victims of this war in the Middle East”therefore also to the Franco-Palestinians killed in Gaza by the Israeli army.
Tribute to the Invalides
According to French authorities, forty-two French or Franco-Israeli citizens were killed in the attack perpetrated by Hamas on October 7. The tribute, chaired by Emmanuel Macron, will be paid exactly four months after the assault of the Palestinian Islamist movement, at the monument for the victims of terrorism on the Esplanade des Invalides in Paris.
Several families from the “No Silence” collective requested, in a letter addressed Tuesday, January 30 to the Head of State, that the presence of the movement founded by Jean-Luc Mélenchon be “prohibited”. “Between indecency, lack of respect, relativism and negationism, La France insoumise and its spokespersons have distinguished themselves by extremely serious comments since the pogrom of October 7”they accuse in their letter.
LFI created controversy after the attacks, notably refusing to qualify Hamas as a group “terrorist” and preferring to talk about “war crimes”. The family collective also accuses him of “bear a very heavy responsibility for the explosion of Judeophobia” in the country. Manuel Bompard defended his movement, believing that certain passages of their mail “appear to attribute to La France insoumise positions that it has never defended”.
“Sign of repentance”
The arrival of leaders of the radical left at this tribute provoked a reaction on the right and within the majority. Olivier Marleix (Les Républicains, LR) said on Radio J understand the“emotion” and the ” faintness “ families “as La France insoumise has trivialized this terrorist attack”. The leader of the LR deputies believes, however, that the movement can participate in it “as a sign of repentance”.
Unlike Xavier Bertrand (LR): “Morally, they would do well not to come, out of respect for the victims (…). What a shame “the president of the Hauts-de-France region was indignant, also accusing the representatives of LFI of having “always, through their actions, favored the rise of anti-Semitism in France”.
On February 7, “we must only speak (…) victims of Hamas terrorist attacks. Let’s not let this moment be taken away.”commented government spokesperson Prisca Thevenot on LCI. “Does La France insoumise only have indecency and insolence as its sole competence? Yes, and yes again. They spend their time creating unresolved provocation and media buzz to serve one thing: their ego.”she castigated.
On Sunday, a delegation of French elected officials mainly from the left, including the “rebellious” Eric Coquerel, went to the Rafah border post between Egypt and the Palestinian territory. The day before, they had called for “a lasting, permanent and immediate ceasefire” in Gaza.