French Jewish Leader Blasts Politician Who Called Macron ‘President Rothschild’

French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech to police officers and gendarmes in the Gendarmerie headquarters on January 16, 2018 in Calais, France. Image by Sylvain Lefevre/Getty Images

By JTA August 31, 2018

(JTA) — A top representative of French Jewry condemned harshly what he called anti-Semitic rhetoric of a Republican politician who called the republic’s leader “President Rothschild.”

Francis Kalifat, president of the CRIF umbrella group of French Jewish communities, on Thursday wrote on Twitter that he considered “revolting” Fabien Di Filippo, The Republicans’ secretary general, message on the same platform about President Emmanuel Macron.

“Following the revolting tweet, featuring anti-Semitic language from the 1930s, of the secretary general of The Republicans,” Kalifat wrote, he has asked that party’s president, Laurent Wauquiez, to issue “a firm condemnation” and an “:exemplary sanction” of Di Filippo.

But Di Filippo on Twitter denied that he had made any anti-Semitic references in his tweet about Macron, who used to work for the Rothchild Bank after joining it in 2008.

“Naturally, the expression ‘President Rothschild’ was a reference to the past functions of banker Emmanuel Macron,” Di Filippo wrote, adding Macron was “disconnected from our realities.” His reference to the Jewish banker family “had no other connotation,” he added.

_Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher.

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