Charlie Hebdo Cartoonist Sues Bernard-Henri Levy Over ‘Anti-Semitic’ Jibe
A caricaturist who used to work for the Charlie Hebdo magazine said he has sued for libel the French-Jewish philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy, who had accused him of anti-Semitism.
Maurice Sinet, better known by his pen name Sine, announced the lawsuit on Monday on his website, urging readers to show their support in a petition and “return honor to all those whom this person has spit on.” The petition has received more than 700 signatures since it was posted.
Levy, who is one of France’s best-known philosophers, wrote in a column that appeared in the Le Point magazine in January that Sine is “a former employee of Charlie Hebdo who was kicked out for his anti-Semitism and racism.”
In 2008, Sine published in Charlie Hebdo a text which implied that Jean Sarkozy, the son of former president Nicolas Sarkozy, was able to avoid blame for a vehicular accident because he plans to convert to Judaism and marry a rich Jewish woman — all unfounded claims that that the caricaturist later said were satirical.
A French court that year ordered a motorist who sued Jean Sarkozy to pay $2,300 for filing a false claim.
Amid a controversy that reverberated for months through France’s literary circles, media and courts, Sine’s employment at Charlie Hebdo – a left-leaning publication known for its lampooning of religion — was terminated after more than two decades.
The magazine, which last year was targeted by Islamists who killed 12 people at its offices, cited threats of legal action against it, and the targeting of an individual person for his ties to Judaism as the reason for the dismissal.
LICRA, a French anti-racism group, sued Sine in 2009 for incitement to hate over the text but lost the case on freedom of expression grounds. The Correction Tribunal of Lyon, however, said Sine’s text “conflated Jews with money and therefore can be seen to invoke an anti-Semitic element.”
Levy told AFP that Sine “can say what he wants and start all the lawsuits in the world. Nothing will erase the shame of his statements in 2008.”
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.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
