French far-right's Bardella denies alleged 2013 antisemitic comments / Photo: © AFP/File
French far-right's Bardella denies alleged 2013 antisemitic comments
A French investigative website on Monday alleged in a report that far-right National Rally (RN) leader Jordan Bardella made antisemitic comments in writing in 2013, but the close ally of presidential frontrunner Marine Le Pen denied the claims as "blatant falsehoods".
According to Mediapart, Bardella wrote, among other comments, in a chat: "The Jew has to dominate other peoples, crush them, and rob them; a Zionist is necessarily a Jew, and fundamentally so."
Bardella, 31, tipped to be prime minister if Le Pen becomes France's president, wrote on X he "formally" rejected the allegations and would take legal action against Mediapart.
Mediapart's investigation is built on comments in private chats allegedly written by Bardella in the summer of 2013 when he was 17 or 18 years old which Mediapart maintains it authenticated.
The young activist, who had joined the far-right party then known as the National Front (FN) a year and a half earlier, allegedly also said: "And that is what they want: a New World Order dominated by Israel, with Jerusalem as the capital, of course."
Le Pen herself told reporters she believed the comments were "fake" and accused Mediapart, which has locked horns with the RN on multiple occasions, of "dirty tricks".
- 'Far-right breakthrough' -
Bardella, a savvy user of social media who projects a squeaky clean image, has been a key player in Le Pen's project of "de-demonisation" to make the RN into an electable force.
Both have moved to rid it of the legacy of her father Jean-Marie Le Pen who founded and led the FN and repeatedly made antisemitic remarks. Bardella in 2025 made an unprecedented visit to Israel, the first by a French far-right leader, in a bid to prove the RN's new credentials.
The allegations have been published at a time when Le Pen is more buoyant than ever over her chances of winning the Elysee at the fourth attempt in the 2027 elections.
A new poll Monday showed that Le Pen would not only be way ahead in the first round of voting in the presidential elections to succeed President Emmanuel Macron, but was also on course to easily win the Elysee in the second against any potential opponent.
She also hailed as "historic" the RN's achievement in the elections for the upper house Senate -- which is chosen by local officials -- to win enough seats to form a faction in the chamber for the first time.
E.Reid--TNT
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