France's Le Pen Backs Bardella Amid Antisemitism Claims

Is this an unverifiable hit job or proof of a party's true character?

3 days ago·Updated 2 days ago

France's Le Pen Backs Bardella Amid Antisemitism Claims

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Above: Jordan Bardella in La Seyne-sur-Mer, France, on Sept. 27. Image credit: Thibaud Moritz/AFP/Getty Images

The Spin

Right narrative

Dumping unverifiable teenage chatter ahead of a presidential race is a hit job aimed at a movement that keeps winning at the ballot box. Smearing someone as an antisemite when his record includes standing with Jewish families and confronting Islamist hatred is defamation, and courts exist for exactly that. Voters, not activists with press cards, get to decide who leads France.

Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Jordan Bardella on X

Left narrative

Bardella once said he didn't think its founder was antisemitic — a founder convicted for calling the gas chambers "a detail of history." A grown man saying that out loud is allegiance, not amnesia. When scrutiny finally came for him too, the party responded with bombastic threats instead of an explanation. National Rally's extremism has never changed, it has just gotten quieter.

Radio Canada International

RSF on X RTBF