Jean-François Jalkh, Marine Le Pen’s second-in-command, denied he ever said it, but BuzzFeed News spoke to a researcher who has his comments recorded on tape.
Marine Le Pen, who faces independent Emmanuel Macron in France’s presidential vote on May 7, stepped down Monday as the leader of the far-right National Front party, handing the keys to her second-in-command, Jean-François Jalkh.
The move is a symbolic step intended to distance Le Pen from the party so she can “meet the people.”
“We thank the organizers for realizing their mistake and for taking the necessary steps to remedy it. However, lessons must be learned from this affair,” they declared.
“The organizers have done the honorable thing and apologized. However, this affair leaves us with a sour taste in our mouths,” Lauder said.
“It was yet another example of how anti-Jewish attitudes, dressed up as vicious and unfair criticism of Israel, are still widespread, and are especially prevalent in a number of far-left global political parties. This affair also showed that the BDS movement is rotten at its core: Although pretending to fight racism, it is fuelled by anti-Semitism. Itâs time people realize that and stop listening to this vicious form of propaganda.â
Speaking on behalf of the local Jewish community, Caro said that it was hoped that “that lessons have been learned for the future.”
“We need to stand together and work together in the fight against all forms of racism, anti-Semitism and hatred. This includes avoiding discriminating against people who may have a different opinion than oneself on certain issues. The Rototom Sunsplash should be about celebrating music and not about politics. I am glad that the festival organizers have realized that.â
“Camouflaged as ‘anti-Zionism’ or ostensibly legitimate criticism of Israeli government policy, BDS is really a modern variant of the age-old scourge of anti-Semitism and the sooner that fact is acknowledged, the sooner BDS will be defeated,” Efraim Zuroff, the head of the center’s Israeli office, told the Post.
At some BDS events, such as one protest in South Africa in 2013, rhetoric against Israel has spilled over into outright anti-Semitism.
Demonstrating against an appearance by an Israeli jazz musician at Johannesburg University, students began chanting “shoot the Jew.”
Despite condemnations by both University Vice-Chancellor Adam Habib and the South African Jewish Board of Deputies at the time, BDS coordinator Muhammed Desai defended the call to shoot Jews and told a student newspaper that the word Jews was not meant in a literal fashion.
The call to kill Jews was âjust like you would say kill the Boer at [a] funeral during the eighties [and] Â it wasnât about killing white people, it was used as a way of identifying with the apartheid regime,” Desai was quoted as saying.
Jews from across Germany attended the rally, some acknowledging they have been reluctant, out of caution, to wear outward symbols of their faith in recent months.
BERLIN , Sept. 15 (UPI) — A Berlin rally heard Chancellor Angela Merkel and others condemn anti-Semitism, which has increased in Germany since Israel’s invasion of Gaza.
Hundreds of thousands of people convened Sunday at the Brandenburg Gate as a response to numerous incidents across Europe, typically at pro-Palestinian demonstrations, that have left Jews with a sense of anxiety. Anti-Semitic attacks in Germany bring back haunting memories of World War II and the Holocaust.
Under a banner reading “Stand Up! Jew Hatred, — Never Again!,” Merkel said, “That people in Germany get mobbed again, threatened and attacked when they let themselves be recognized as Jews or when they speak out in favor of the state of Israel is an outrageous scandal. I don’t accept this, we all here don’t accept this.”
“We want Jews to feel safe in this country. They should feel that this country is our common home…in which all people who live here have a good future ahead. With this rally we give an important signal, a signal against anti-Semitism, against extremism and against any kind of hostility.
We give a signal for respect, respect for the religious faith and the culture of others, regardless whether they are Jews, Muslims or Christiansâa sign for peace and thriving together in this country,” she added.
Jews from across Germany attended the rally, some acknowledging they have been reluctant, out of caution, to wear outward symbols of their faith in recent months. Some mentioned they were targets of taunts as they proceeded to Berlin.
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