The European Jewish Congress (EJC) has announced that it will file a lawsuit in a Paris court against Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder and long-time leader of the far-right French National Front, after anti-Semitic remarks by Le Pen about Jewish singer Patrick Bruel which caused outrage.
“It is vital that there are consequences for these comments, which reflect a history of racism and anti-Semitism by Le Pen which have not received the censure they deserve,” EJC President Moshe Kantor said. “These comments are incitement against and defamation of the Jewish People and we will take every action to ensure that a message is sent that this is unacceptable discourse.”
Le Pen can be censured and fined by the court, the EJC said.
“The new reality in Europe demonstrated by the recent European Parliamentary electoral gains by far-Right and neo-Nazi parties necessitates taking strong and swift action against hate, intolerance and xenophobia,” Kantor declared. “We hope that this lawsuit will send a strong message that there will no longer be immunity for hate and an end to the impunity of incitement against Jews or other ethnic groups among any Europeans, especially by public figures such as politicians.”
Meanwhile, Le Pen denied his remarks had been anti-Semitic and asked his daughter — current party leader Marine Le Pen — to restore his blog on the FN website, which had been deleted following the video. His letter asks his daughter “to restore the situation to as it was before” and called the removal “an injustice."
"This is an illegitimate action and there is no reason that I should tolerate it,” Le Pen, who has posted 366 blog posts on the party’s website, said in an interview with the French newspaper 'Le Monde'. He insisted that his reference to Bruel — one of France’s most famous Jewish artists and a vocal critic of the National Front — was not anti-Semitic. “Criticizing a Jew or replying to a Jew is not anti-Semitism,” Le Pen said. “They are citizens like everyone else. When they attack you, we reply without any problem.”
