Prominent French Jews decry far left’s election gains amid fears of ‘new antisemitism’
French rabbi advises young French Jews to move to Israel because of mainstream discrimination; journalist says NPF victory sends message of impunity to ‘anti-Jewish Islamo-Fascists’
Prominent French Jews on Sunday lamented the electoral success of a political bloc that features a far-left party widely regarded as antisemitic in the country’s parliamentary elections.
This reaction came in response to news that the New Popular Front, which includes the Socialist Party and the France Unbowed far-left party, or LFI, was predicted to have garnered the highest share of the vote in today’s final round, with 175 to 205 seats according to a preliminary count, followed by the French President Emmanuel Macron’s Together bloc (150 to 175) and then the far-right National Rally (115-150).
Moshe Sebbag, a rabbi for the Synagogue de la Victoire, told The Times of Israel that “it seems France has no future for Jews,” and said he advises young French Jews to leave for Israel.
“But people my age, who are 50, 60, we’ve made our life here and we fear for the future of our children,” he said, noting that his assessment was not due solely to the left-wing bloc’s success, but to the mainstreaming of antisemitism in general in France.
“The left is once again kidnapped by the infamous Melenchon. Divisive language. Hate of the republic on the lips. Around him right now are some incarnations of the new antisemitism. A chilling moment. A stain: Continue to fight against these people,” French-Jewish philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy wrote on X.
Jean-Luc Melenchon, the leader of LFI, in a 2017 speech called French Jews “an arrogant minority that lectures to the rest.” He was also on record in an earlier speech as celebrating anti-Israel protesters days after some of them stormed a synagogue, condemning in that speech only French Jews who demonstrated to show solidarity with Israel.
“Melenchon’s victory is a terrible signal of impunity sent to the anti-Jewish Islamo-Fascists,” French-Jewish journalist Yohann Taieb wrote on X.
Under Marine Le Pen, the National Rally has attempted to rehabilitate the public image it had under the antisemitic and xenophobic party founder, Holocaust denier Jean-Marie Le Pen, who is Marine’s father.
Focusing on limiting immigration and cracking down on radical Islam, Marine Le Pen has vowed to be French Jews’ “shield” against antisemitism even as she asked them to make “sacrifices” in the fight against radical Islam. One sacrifice she asked was the wearing of traditional head coverings such as kippot in public, which she views as collateral damage in her fight to ban Muslim religious symbols.
Meanwhile, the hard left under Melenchon has placed the Palestinian cause on its banner: One of the party’s most prominent figures, Rima Hassan, is a French-Palestinian lawyer who has called Hamas’s October 7 onslaught a “legitimate action.” Hassan, who was not on the ballot, stood next to Melenchon during his concluding speech of the first round. She was wearing a keffiyeh, in what many observers interpreted as a signal to Muslim voters that Melenchon’s party was their political home.
The election results do not necessarily affect Macron’s presidency, though the hugely fragmented parliament is set to weaken France’s role in the European Union and elsewhere abroad and make it hard for anyone to push through a domestic agenda.
The leftist New Popular Front (NFP) alliance, which wants to cap prices of essential goods like fuel and food, raise the minimum wage to a net 1,600 euros ($1,732) per month, hike wages for public sector workers and impose a wealth tax, immediately said it wanted to govern.
The constitution does not oblige Macron to ask the leftist group to form a government, though that would be the usual step as it is the biggest group in parliament.
