A French MP declared that Israeli athletes are “not welcome” at the Paris Olympics and called for protests against Israeli participation in the games.
Thomas Portes, the lawmaker who represents the 3rd constituency of the heavily multicultural Seine-Saint-Denis suburb of Paris in the National Assembly, has come under heavy criticism for saying on Saturday that athletes from Israel should not be allowed to participate in the Olympics.
“We are a few days away from an international event that will be held in Paris, which is the Olympic Games. I am here to say that no, the Israeli delegation is not welcome in Paris.”
Portes, formerly of the French Communist Party and now a member of the far-left LFI party of radical socialist Jean-Luc Mélenchon, made the comments at an anti-Israeli demonstration in Paris. He went on to call for “a mobilization” against Israeli athletes before the games begin next week, Le Figaro reports.
Yonathan Arfi, the president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF), accused the leftist lawmaker of putting “a target on the back of Israeli athletes.”
“1972: 11 Israeli athletes are murdered by Palestinian terrorists at the Munich Olympics. 2024: LFI calls for the exclusion of Israeli athletes from the Paris Olympics. Since October 7, Thomas Portes has legitimised Hamas. He is now putting a target on the backs of Israeli athletes, already the most threatened at the Olympic Games,” Arfi said.
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The president of the European Jewish Organization (OJE), Muriel Ouaknine-Melki said that her organisation would file a formal complaint against the LFI MP.
Portes has previously faced sanctions after being pictured putting his foot on a ball featuring the effigy of then Minister of Labour Olivier Dussopt during a protest against pension reforms. The LFI lawmaker was suspended from the National Assembly for two weeks over the incident.
La France Insoumise has long been accused of antisemitism and of cozying up to radical Islamists in France, with its leader, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, controversially downplaying the rise in anti-Jewish incidents in France following the October 7th terror attacks on Israel. The party has also steadfastly refused to label Hamas as terrorists.
Despite this, President Emmanuel Macron sided with the New Popular Front — a leftist electoral alliance that includes the LFI — in a controversial move to prevent the populist National Rally party of Marine Le Pen from winning the legislative elections earlier this month.
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