What's behind the poster causing an antisemitism scandal in French politics

“Enough is enough!” 

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of far-left political party La France Insoumise (LFI), recently lost his temper during an appearance on the TV show Dimanche en politique on France 3, responding with outrage to the following question: "Was the Hanouna poster a mistake or not?"

“Why are you asking me this question?” shouted the former presidential candidate, with all his trademark tact. “What right do you have? Who are you? Are you accusing me? Are you accusing me? Then shut up!”  

Further raising his voice, he added: “You're continuing a campaign against us that started on the far right.” 

And just like that, journalist Francis Letellier ended the interview.  

The clip of the interview has gone viral, and La France Insoumise has been forced to withdraw the poster depicting French radio and TV presenter Cyril Hanouna on grounds that it is reminiscent of Nazi anti-Semitic imagery. 

Check it out for yourself:  

The poster, showing Hanouna with furrowed eyebrows, a protruding nose, and pulling an aggressive grimace, was intended to drum up support for those wishing to take part in an anti-racism rally on 22 March.  

It massively backfired, with many being quick to recognise the hateful iconography of anti-Semitic caricatures from the 1930s and Nazi Germany.

The image has caused a major political controversy, especially since LFI – like Britain's Labour party – has routinely struggled with accusations of anti-Semitism.

For historian Robert Hirsch, author of the book "La Gauche et les Juifs" (published by Le Bord de l'Eau, 2022), “this is probably the clearest anti-Semitic provocation from La France Insoumise.” 

Only last Sunday, French outlet Libération reported that one of Mélenchon’s former lieutenants expressed surprise that his former mentor had described the extermination of Jews during the Second World War as a “mass massacre” rather than a “genocide” - a word Mélenchon frequently uses when referring to Palestine.

Instead of addressing the situation head on, Mélenchon has relied on a tactic of systemic denial. In this case, he feigned ignorance of Hanouna’s Jewish origin and denounced “propaganda from far-right networks” instead of taking any form of accountability.  

However, this poster scandal has led to dissension in the ranks.  

Certain LFI party members are expressing embarrassment when faced with numerous calls to action following the publication of the visual.

“Indifference towards anti-Semitism is not an option,” wrote Clémentine Autain, MP and former member of lFI. “When you are on the left and you want to fight the far right, you are beyond reproach in the fight against anti-Semitism.” 

According to the publication L'Opinion, one party member who wished to remain anonymous stated: “Either the guy at LFI headquarters who designed the visuals is an uneducated asshole, or he's an anti-Semitic scumbag.” 

Neither very appealing options.  

To make matters worse, the Ligue des droits de l'Homme issued a rare statement on Monday condemning the publication of the visual and criticising La France Insoumise.  

“Any organisation or political party can make communication errors,” the organisation said in a statement. “When LFI does not seem to recognise the fact and the nature of these errors, we question its understanding and its willingness to remedy the situation.” 

The latest development has been placing the blame at AI’s doorstep. 

Indeed, the image was reportedly generated by artificial intelligence via the Grok software developed by the xAI company owned by no one's favourite American billionaire Elon Musk. 

Fair enough, but if you’re designing posters for a march against the rise of the far-right, would you place your trust in the tools of a man whose right arm action has drawn comparisons to the Nazi party, and whose Tesla cars are rarely seen without swastika tags these days?  

And even if that doesn't raise any red flags, wouldn’t it be judicious to... you know... double-check or run it by a few interested parties before sending the image to the printers?  

It remains to be seen how LFI reacts if Hanouna takes any legal action against the party. What is clear is that the offending poster has fuelled LFI's political opponents, benefitted the far-right party Rassemblement National (National Rally) - who are now portraying themselves as the defenders of the French Jewish community - and above all, completely undermined the original purpose of the campaign: marching against racism and the rise of the far-right.  

It goes to show that condemning things in direct terms and a clear admission of clumsiness is best policy. Or as Clémentine Autain added in her statement on social media: “If we fail, through ignorance or misunderstanding, we acknowledge it, and then we do better.”