{"id":6720,"date":"2026-02-27T18:29:47","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T18:29:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=6720"},"modified":"2026-02-27T18:29:47","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T18:29:47","slug":"french-hard-left-leader-melenchon-in-epstein-joke-antisemitism-row","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=6720","title":{"rendered":"French Hard Left Leader Melenchon in Epstein Joke Antisemitism Row"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">AFP \u2014\u00a0French far-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon has sparked new accusations of antisemitism after mocking the pronunciation of the name \u201cEpstein\u201d during a political rally in southeastern France.<\/p>\n<p class=\"a9d-pre\">Speaking at a gathering in Lyon on Thursday evening, Melenchon invoked the name of Jeffrey Epstein, after recent disclosures detailed the convicted sex offender\u2019s extensive ties to the world\u2019s rich, famous and powerful.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a9d\"\/>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a9d\"\/>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"\/>\n<p>\u201cI wanted to say \u2018Epstein\u2019, sorry, it sounds more Russian, \u2018Epsteen\u2019,\u201d said the France Unbowed (LFFranceI) leader.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo now you\u2019ll say Epsteen instead of Epstein, Franckensteen instead of Frankenstein,\u201d he told a laughing audience.<\/p>\n<p>The comments, which came ahead of municipal elections next month, sparked outrage from across the political spectrum.<\/p>\n<p class=\"a9d-pre\">Melenchon, 74, rejected accusations of antisemitism, calling his comments \u201cironic\u201d.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B2\" class=\"a9d\"\/>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a9d\"\/>\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/t\/assets\/html\/tweet-5.html#2026637956925026525\" data-btlnk=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BreitbartLondon\/status\/2026637956925026525\" class=\"bnn-if-tweet\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"260\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>On Friday, President Emmanuel Macron shared a video of a recent speech he made condemning the \u201cantisemitic hydra\u201d that he said had crept into \u201cevery crack\u201d of French society.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis was 15 days ago\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n<p>Interior Minister Laurent Nunez described Melenchon\u2019s remarks as \u201cabject\u201d, while Equality Minister Aurore Berge wrote on X that \u201cantisemitism in France can be spelled out in three letters: L-F-I.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Socialist lawmaker Laurence Rossignol condemned the comments as \u201cthe most terrifying antisemitism\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow many decades has it been since a politician made a room laugh by rattling off Jewish names, emphasising their pronunciation, with a sneer of hatred?\u201d Rossignol said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"a9d-pre\">The leader of the far right National Rally party, Jordan Bardella, denounced Thursday\u2019s rally as a \u201cbrutal, chilling meeting with openly antisemitic overtones\u201d.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a9d adSo\"\/>\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/t\/assets\/html\/tweet-5.html#1968329477391564937\" data-btlnk=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BreitbartLondon\/status\/1968329477391564937\" class=\"bnn-if-tweet\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"260\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Yonathan Arfi, head of the French Jewish group Crif, said: \u201cWith all due respect to Jean-Luc Melenchon, a Year 8 pupil knows that in English, \u2018Epstein\u2019 is pronounced \u2018Epstine\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo see this pronunciation as manipulation is a conspiracy theory with real antisemitic overtones,\u201d he said on X, adding journalists were using the American pronunciation of the late financier\u2019s last name.<\/p>\n<p>Melenchon sought to push back.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe reaction of those who see this as antisemitism is appalling,\u201d he said on X, noting that it was a way of \u201cdeliberately inciting violence against LFI\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The LFI and Melenchon have faced accusations of failing to properly condemn attacks on October 7, 2023 by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel.<\/p>\n<p class=\"a9d-pre\">Melenchon and his party have been under fire over the killing of far-right activist Quentin Deranque in Lyon.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B4\" class=\"a9d adSo\"\/>\n<p>The 23-year-old died following clashes between radical left and far-right supporters on the sidelines of a February 12 demonstration against a politician from Melenchon\u2019s party.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/europe\/2026\/02\/27\/french-hard-left-presidential-candidate-melenchon-triggers-antisemitism-row-with-epstein-joke\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AFP \u2014\u00a0French far-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon has sparked new accusations of antisemitism after mocking the pronunciation of the name \u201cEpstein\u201d during a political rally in southeastern&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6721,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe-russia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6720\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}