Smear campaign against French left smacks of desperation

Rima Hassan, newly elected member of the European Parliament, is a hate figure for the pro-Israel lobby.
Denis Prezat ABACA

Racism against Palestinians is accepted in France.

Yonathan Arfi from CRIF – the most prominent pro-Israel group in Paris – declared earlier this year that there was “no moral equivalence between collateral victims, civilian, who were not deliberately targeted, and victims of terrorism.”

The message was clear: For Arfi, Palestinian lives do not matter.

Far from being shunned for his naked bigotry and his dismissive attitude to the genocide Israel is perpetrating in Gaza, Arfi and his organization still enjoy cordial relations with France’s ruling elite. In May – a few months after Arfi made that vile comment – Gabriel Attal, the French prime minister, addressed CRIF’s annual dinner.

Attal tried to please his hosts on that occasion by ranting against the left-wing La France Insoumise (LFI).

Smearing that party is a preoccupation for the pro-Israel lobby. And the smears have been relentless in the current election season.

Arfi was apoplectic when Rima Hassan won a seat for LFI in the European Parliament a few weeks ago.

Hassan spent her early childhood in a Palestinian refugee camp near the Syrian city of Aleppo before moving to France when she was 10. She has been dubbed “Lady Gaza” for her strident opposition to the current genocide.

When Arfi was recently asked on radio if he regarded her election to the European Parliament as a danger to Jews, he replied “yes.”

Arfi did not produce any evidence that Hassan represents any such danger. Instead, he potentially put Hassan at risk by claiming (once more without proof) that she was a spokesperson for Hamas and that she followed a “culture of political violence.”

French voters will go to the polls again this coming Sunday in the first round of the National Assembly elections.

Arfi has alleged that the frequent references to Palestine made by La France Insoumise in its campaigning “creates an extremely harmful climate” for Jews.

La France Insoumise has joined an electoral pact with other parties to present a common front against the far-right National Rally of Marine Le Pen.

The very idea that LFI could be included in that front – alongside parties considered more moderate – was anathema to Arfi. He has even contended that LFI is promoting hatred of Jews for electoral purposes.

Last week Arfi said that “the main fuel for anti-Semitism since 7 October is the hate for Israel, which is instrumentalized.” He had previously noted that younger generations are more receptive to hate for Israel.

By making such accusations, Arfi is revealing his real fears.

Israel may be perceived as an ally by France and other governments in the European Union. Yet the widespread revulsion to the Gaza genocide among the public means the alliance is built on increasingly shaky foundations.

Israel’s supporters would not dare admit that the revulsion is a direct response to Israel’s barbarity. So they have to cast aspersions against everyone who demonstrates solidarity with Palestinians by depicting them as anti-Semitic.

Such tactics will be familiar to those who followed how the pro-Israel lobby manufactured an “anti-Semitism crisis” in Britain when Jeremy Corbyn headed that country’s Labour Party. The smears against the LFI and its best-known representative Jean-Luc Mélenchon are virtually identical to those which Corbyn faced.

Yet whereas Corbyn tried to appease the pro-Israel bullies, the LFI has so far stood up to them. Hopefully it will continue to do so.