The polemicist Dieudonné, found guilty on several occasions of anti-Semitic insult, incitement to hatred and contestation of crimes against humanity, presented a letter of apology published Monday on the site of the Franco-Israeli
magazine Israel Magazine
.
The actor "humbly"
admitted
having been able to
"hit, shock, hurt"
his
"compatriots of the Jewish community, with whom I humbly admit having indulged in the game of one-upmanship"
by what he calls his
"artistic posturing »
.
“For all these faults and excesses, I ask forgiveness. My ambition was to make everyone laugh, and the Jewish community is part of my world
, ”continues Dieudonné, who was again sentenced in September to a fine of 10,000 euros for racist insults against writer and actress Rachel Khan.
Questioned by
Le Parisien
, the editorial director of
Israel Magazine considered that it was a
“sincere”
act of contrition
.
"On a spiritual level, you have to give a chance to someone who wants to repent
," he said daily.
Read alsoThe sad record of the sacking of Brasilia, ravaged by the Bolsonarists
But from words to deeds, there is a world.
Dieudonné went to the ceremony organized in the canton of Geneva on Saturday, in memory of Stéphane Blet, a conspiratorial pianist and anti-Semite who died in 2020.
Multiple provocations
Sentenced on several occasions, in particular for defamation and apology for terrorism, Dieudonné had already sought to "be forgiven" in the past.
Following a "sketch" for which he made himself up as a kind of Nazi Jew, he had mounted in 2004 a show entitled
My Excuses.
To close the controversy?
Not really.
“The show that I am doing largely takes up the lines of this sketch,”
he explained at the time to Thierry Ardisson who urged him to contrition.
For nearly twenty years, he has multiplied provocations, for example by inviting Holocaust denier Robert Faurisson on stage to give him a "prize for infrequentability and insolence".
Read alsoThe César 2023 will be hosted by a host of “masters of ceremonies”
Several Jewish institutions in France reacted with skepticism to Dieudonné's latest outburst.
“I do not believe in the sincerity of his approach,”
Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France (Crif),
told the
Journal du Dimanche .
“It is an interested approach on his part in order to regain the media visibility which he lacks today
, he continued.
We will not lend ourselves to this sham reconciliation.
The reading of Dieudonné's letter of apology by Cyril Hanouna, Monday evening on the program
Touche pas à mon poste,
on C8, also surprised the Union of Jewish Students of France (UEJF).
“Dieudonné is not a comedian but a promoter of racist, anti-Semitic and negationist hatred.
Giving credit to his apologies is a betrayal of the fight against anti-Semitism
,” the association said.
“When you repent, you have to explain why you think you have sinned, if not how to consider the repentance as sincere.
And in particular on Holocaust denial
,
”
summarized the committed lawyer and Franco-Israeli State Councilor Arno Klarsfeld on Twitter.
