Unity Against French Far Right Weakens --- Divisions over Gaza war, antisemitism split Macron's party, far-left counterparts

 

"PARIS -- Deep divisions in France over antisemitism and the Gaza war have left Marine Le Pen's opponents at odds on whether to band together to stop her party from winning a majority of seats in the final round of parliamentary elections.

The discord was apparent the morning after Le Pen's first-round victory, with leaders of President Emmanuel Macron's party accusing some far-left candidates of antisemitism and refusing to endorse them. 

Persuading third-place candidates to step aside and provide an endorsement this week is a crucial step if Le Pen's opponents want to impede her party from winning control of the 577-seat National Assembly after the election's second round on July 7. Such an outcome would compel Macron to pick a prime minister from her party's ranks.

The Oct. 7 attack by Hamas in Israel and subsequent war in Gaza have inflamed French politics, making antisemitism and criticism of Israel key wedge issues in the elections. The far-left France Unbowed party has stridently criticized Israel, drawing accusations from Macron's government that its rhetoric is fueling a sharp increase in antisemitic acts in France.

Le Pen and other National Rally leaders defended Israel, with the party seizing the moment to make the case that it has renounced its history of antisemitism, which long made it radioactive in French politics. France is home to Europe's biggest Jewish community and one of its biggest Muslim minorities.

The move appeared to pay dividends on Sunday, helping push the National Rally to one of the best election showings in French politics in the past 20 years. Turnout was high, and the party won more than 9.3 million votes, the most of any party in the first round of French legislative elections since 2007, when the center-right party won more than 10 million. National Rally and its allies captured 33% of votes cast, compared with the party's 19% share in the first round two years ago.

Le Pen's political ambitions, however, have been thwarted in previous elections by France's two-round voting system, which encourages voters to coalesce around mainstream candidates rather than ones at the far end of the political spectrum. With accusations of antisemitism now rising against far-left candidates and fading for Le Pen, voters are having a hard time deciding which side is more extreme.

The New Popular Front, an alliance of leftist parties that includes France Unbowed, came in second with 28% of the vote, while Macron's party came in third with 21%. The alliance's platform condemns the Hamas attack as a "terrorist massacre" and says "all those who spread hatred of Jews must be fought."

Jean-Luc Melenchon, the fiery leader of France Unbowed, said candidates of the leftist alliance in districts where they came in third should drop out, creating a head-to-head matchup in those cases between the National Rally and Macron's party.

"Our order is simple, direct and clear: Not one vote, not one seat more for the National Rally," Melenchon said at a rally on Sunday night.

The leaders of Macron's party weren't prepared to do the same. They said some members of France Unbowed have crossed the line into antisemitism with their comments about Israel since Oct. 7.

"I will not today endorse this extremist fringe of France Unbowed," Yael Braun-Pivet, a lawmaker from Macron's party who until recently was president of the National Assembly, said on Monday morning.

Braun-Pivet, whose father is Jewish, faced a barrage of antisemitic insults and threats after Oct. 7. Someone sent her a letter threatening to decapitate her, she said.

Melenchon gave his speech standing next to Rima Hass a n, a controversial figure in France Unbowed who is under investigation for remarks after Oct. 7 that allegedly condoned terrorism, a crime in France. 

Hassan, who was elected to the European Parliament in June, responded "true" when asked whether Hamas's actions were legitimate.

"It was a provocation," Braun-Pivet said when asked about Hassan's appearance at last night's rally.

Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, a member of Macron's party, called for voters to back candidates in the Popular Front that were from the Socialist Party and the Greens but not those from France Unbowed.

"France Unbowed is against the French nation," Le Maire said, "France Unbowed is antisemitism."

The party's leaders condemn antisemitism even as they sometimes seem to minimize it. Melenchon stoked controversy in June when he wrote that antisemitism in France is "residual." France Unbowed leaders say their vociferous criticism of Israel doesn't cross the line into antisemitism.

Sunday night's results suggest France is drifting toward the nationalist, anti-immigrant sentiment that has swept the West in recent years, including Brexit, the 2016 election of Donald Trump and the election victory of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Macron and the party he founded couldn't tack quickly enough, despite recent efforts to tighten France's immigration laws. At 21%, the vote share of his party and its allies was down from 26% two years ago. Some analysts expect it will lose many of the 245 seats it held in the National Assembly, a crushing setback for a party that was seen as the avatar of a new style of technocratic governance that transcended ideological boundaries when Macron founded it in 2016." [1]

1. World News: Unity Against French Far Right Weakens --- Divisions over Gaza war, antisemitism split Macron's party, far-left counterparts. Dalton, Matthew.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 02 July 2024: A.7.