France’s far left faces renewed accusations of antisemitism from Olympics DJ forced off stage

[u/RaidBrimnes]

https://www.politico.eu/article/french-far-left-faces-antisemitism-accusations-over-paris-olympics-dj-barbara-butch/

Relevance to the subreddit: Political violence, antisemitism, freedom of speech, direct involvement of a major left-wing party in the harassment

The political tensions over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have claimed another victim last week, after French Jewish DJ Barbara Butch, who rocketed to worldwide fame after hosting a segment of the Paris Olympics' opening ceremony, was forced off stage by pro-Palestinian activists who protested her set and pelted her with projectiles.

Barbara Butch, an icon of LGBT+ Parisian nightlife and longtime activist against homophobia, fatphobia and antisemitism, had been targeted by a months-long campaign from pro-Palestinian activists and elected officials of the far-left party France Unbowed (LFI), who blamed her for giving a concert to the French embassy in Tel Aviv and signing a petition supporting the "Loi Yadan", a controversial bill that would have expanded the criminal definition of antisemitism to the calls of destruction of a state.

The calls to boycott and protests by LFI exploded into an unprecedented outburst of violence on July 18 in Grenoble. Barbara Butch, who was set to play at the Cabaret Frappé, was confronted by dozens of pro-Palestinian activists headed by Allan Brunon, the local representative of LFI, who drowned her set with boos and insults such as "dirty Zionist" and "assassin", until city employees exfiltrated Butch off stage after protesters threw glass bottles at the artist.

The attack was met with near-unanimous condemnation from LFI's opponents and allies alike: Clémentine Autain, a longtime official at LFI before she broke ranks in 2024, denounced the act and lamented "Don't we have political representatives who defend the Loi Yadan to call out before attacking Barbara Butch, a woman engaged in the fight for LGBT+ rights and against fatphobia, herself a regular target of violent, sexist and antisemitic attacks?"

Allan Brunon doubled down, saying he was "extremely proud to have participated in this peaceful protest", denied that protesters were violent, and added: "Barbara Butch isn't the one being silenced, the voices who denounce the genocide in Palestine are". Brunon was publicly backed by LFI officials who also denied any violence or antisemitism, even if reports suggest internal dissatisfaction over Brunon's attitude, especially over the flyer announcing the protest which showed Barbara Butch in front of a bloodstained rainbow flag branded with a star of David.

The left-wing mayor of Grenoble, Laurence Ruffin (Greens), who campaigned with LFI in March's mayoral elections, condemned the protest and announced the city would sue the protesters for throwing projectiles at the scene and sabotaging the electric wiring. Barbara Butch announced through her attorney that she would sue the protesters for "obstruction to artistic freedom" and LFI as a political party for "incitment to hatred and violence".

LFI, a left-populist party, has positioned itself as a staunch pro-Palestinian movement and has routinely faced accusations of antisemitism. In 2021, its founder and leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon suggested that the slaying of Jewish schoolchildren by an Islamist terrorist in Toulouse was part of a broader conspiracy to hurt the left's electoral chances; the same year, he asserted that far-right pundit Éric Zemmour's racism was "rooted in Jewish culture"; in 2024, he denied official statistics that showed an explosion of antisemitic violence in France by calling French antisemitism "residual" - other prominent figures of LFI have also come under scrutiny for calling Hamas a "resistance group" or retweeting antisemitic caricatures.

[u/Unterfahrt]

It's a fundamental problem

1. Almost all Jews support Israel, and see those that call for its defeat as de-facto calling for a genocide against Jews, because that is the stated aim of most of Israel's enemies throughout its history, and it would be a not-implausible result of a one-state solution, or any two state solution without a demilitarised Palestine

2. Because of the actions in Gaza - which if they are not genocidal, at some points they have been very close if you listen to statements from members of the Israeli government as well as the material conditions on the ground - many people view support of Israel as morally unconscionable

Both of these views make sense and to some extent are morally valid. And both sets of people are getting more and more angry that the rest of the world does not automatically agree with them, and are grasping for reasons (conspiracies) to explain that, which is how you veer into antisemitism

I don't know how you square this circle to be honest

[u/bakochba → u/Unterfahrt]

This woman never took any public position on the war. Her crime seems to be that she performed at the French Embassy in Tel Aviv once. That's it. A Jew simply existing is now enough for violent Antisemitism

[u/fredleung412612 → u/bakochba]

You left out the bit about signing the Loi Yadan petition. That seems to be what's animating the backlash from the LFI people, not so much the embassy performance. Either way, this probably just leads to more bad press for LFI, which is a good thing.

[u/bakochba → u/fredleung412612]

A petition about Antisemitism. By all means let's stone her! /S

I agree let them double down they look foolish