French-Muslim News Website Compiles ‘Hit List’ Of Famous Jews
Manuel Valls Image by Getty images
(JTA) — A French-Muslim news outlet and a prominent anti-colonialism activist published on Twitter alleged hit lists featuring Jewish groups and individuals.
Sihame Assbague, the activist, posted the first list of eight items last week.
It included the CRIF umbrella group of French Jewish communities; the Socialist Jewish politician Julien Dray; former prime minister Manuel Valls — a supporter of Israel whose ex-wife and children are Jews; and the radical left-wing politician Jean-Luc Melenchon, who is not Jewish.
The list was accompanied by a picture of a character from the series “Game of Thrones,” from a scene in which she lists the people she intends to kill.
The tweet by Assbague — whom the LICRA civil rights watchdog has accused frequently of spreading racist views on whites and Jews – prompted a reply from the official Twitter account of Al Kanz, which is one of France’s best read Muslim news websites.
The Al Kanz staffer who wrote the reply added nine more names, including the Jewish philosophers Raphael Enthoven and Alain Finkielkraut; the French-Jewish historian Eric Zemmour; the French-Jewish journalist Elisabeth Levy; and several other writers with critical views on Islam and radical Islam.
Enthoven wrote on Twitter that the lists were “hate speech” and expressed his “solidarity with the other targets.”
On the Al Kanz Twitter account, a spokesperson denied amid an uproar over the lists that they were sinister in any way and dismissed them as an attempt at humor. A later message said that Enthoven’s condemnation exposed the paper to harassment online by Jews.
As the controversy unfolded, the Al Kanz staffer again replied to Assbague’s original list after, writing: “May they and we live to be older than 100 in excellent health.”
Contact Alyssa Fisher at [email protected] or on Twitter, @alyssalfisher
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
