From the first day of the Russia-Ukraine war, the U.S. and Western European countries have entered a race of sanctions. Russian businesspeople’s assets were frozen and the assets of the Russian Federation were blocked. Russian artists were banned from orchestras and even the performance of Russian classics was debated. Russian sports clubs also felt the impact of the sanction frenzy, with Russia being banned from all competitions.
Among the ongoing sanctions against Russia, France has been prominent. French President Emmanuel Macron stated that a more aggressive stance was needed, including sending troops to Ukraine. The reason for recalling this ongoing process is the recent controversy sparked by French MP Thomas Portes, who has called for protests against the Israeli delegation ahead of the Olympic Games in France.
Plantu, one of France’s most famous cartoonists who has been drawing regularly for Le Monde since 1972, depicted MP Portes as playing soccer with the severed head of an Israeli soldier and claimed that this opened the doors to antisemitism.
French journalist Haziza Frederic alleged that Portes is a member of an organization that finances Hamas and encourages the killing of Israeli athletes.
The French Communist Party issued a disgraceful statement criticizing Portes’ call to protest against Zionist Israel.
Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi, quoting Yonathan Arfi, the head of the Zionism umbrella organization in France, demanded the closure of Portes’ party and the imposition of a ban on politics and public aid due to Portes’ statements.
As you can see, it’s a state of complete madness, a baggage that they haven’t been able to lighten by shifting blame onto others since the Dreyfus affair.
However, the French MP had said that the same stance taken by his country against Russia should also be applied to Israel. The only thing he asked for was consistency.
Don’t be surprised if he is soon imprisoned for saying that Zionism should be prevented from using the Olympics to cleanse itself. Europe, which has been turning a blind eye to what has been happening in Gaza for 290 days, has completely lost its right to speak on democracy and human rights with its open support for Zionist Israel.
France, which claims to be the “founding element of Civilized Europe” with the slogan “Liberte, egalite, fraternite,” has inadvertently exposed its own hypocrisy with its impotence against Zionism.
