Ex-Charlie Hebdo cartoonist sues Jewish thinker who called him anti-Semitic

A caricaturist who used to work for the Charlie Hebdo magazine says he is suing for libel the French-Jewish philosopher who had accused him of anti-Semitism.

Maurice Sinet, better known by his pen name Sine, announced the lawsuit against Bernard-Henri Levy on his website, urging readers to show their support in a petition and “return honor to all those whom this person has spit on.” The petition has received more than 700 signatures since it was posted on Monday.

Levy, who is one of France’s best-known philosophers, wrote in a column that appeared in the Le Point magazine in January that Sine is “a former employee of Charlie Hebdo who was kicked out for his anti-Semitism and racism.”

In 2008, Sine published in Charlie Hebdo a text which implied that Jean Sarkozy, the son of former president Nicolas Sarkozy, was able to avoid blame for a vehicular accident because he plans to convert to Judaism and marry a rich Jewish woman — all unfounded claims that that the caricaturist later said were satirical.

A French court that year ordered a motorist who sued Jean Sarkozy to pay $2,300 for filing a false claim.

Amid a controversy that reverberated for months through France’s literary circles, media and courts, Sine’s employment at Charlie Hebdo – a left-leaning publication known for its lampooning of religion — was terminated after more than two decades.

The magazine, which last year was targeted by Islamists who killed 12 people at its offices, cited threats of legal action against it and the targeting of an individual person for his ties to Judaism as the reason for the dismissal.

— JTA