French President’s Party Boots Politician Over ‘Anti-Semitic’ Tweets
(JTA) — The party of French president-elect Emmanuel Macron withdrew from its parliamentary elections ticket a politician who made statements deemed anti-Semitic.
Christian Gerin, a journalist, was taken off the En Marche ticket Friday, a day after he was nominated to represent the party in next month’s elections for the French parliament, in connection with messages he wrote from 2013 through this year on Twitter.
Laurence Haim, a spokesperson for En Marche, confirmed that the suspension was over the tweets.
In one tweet, flagged as “anti-Semitic” by the LICRA watchdog group, he wrote: “When will there be a separation between CRIF and state?”
CRIF is the umbrella group of French Jewish communities, whose critics say wields too much influence over French politicians.
Gerin also wrote on Twitter: “The only solution: BDS.” Advocating for a boycott of Israel, which is the ideology of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, is illegal in France, where it is considered a hate crime.
LICRA, one of France’s best-known and oldest civil rights watchdogs, said in a statement earlier this week that there are “clear anti-Semitic connotations” to the statements by Gerin.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
