"There are politicians and irresponsible politicians in this country." Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti directly targeted Jean-Luc Mélenchon, La France Insoumise and the New Anti-Capitalist Party (NPA) on Thursday, after their statements on the attacks that targeted Israel on Saturday.
Interviewed on BFMTV, he insisted that "these heinous acts resonate in our country", with a reference to the "November 13" attacks in Paris and Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis) that left 130 dead and hundreds injured in 2015. "Would we have been offered to sit at the table of Daesh?" the Islamic State group that claimed responsibility for the attacks in France, he pretends to wonder. The minister added that "there is no justification for the abduction of children, the massacre of children." "And they come to tell us that it's not terrorism. There are politicians and irresponsible politicians in this country. »
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Since Hamas attacked Israel on Saturday, October 7, Jean-Luc Mélenchon and La France Insoumise have come under heavy criticism. They are accused of sending the two sides back to back, which would implicitly make Israel responsible for what happened. The refusal to label the events and Hamas as "terrorists" is causing enormous controversy on the left of the political spectrum and within Nupes, the electoral alliance formed in 2022. The NPA, for its part, has clearly supported Hamas. "Support for the Palestinians and the means of struggle they have chosen to resist," the far-left party wrote.
"Anti-Semitism, glorification of terrorism, these are offences"
While the NPA's position is before the courts, Éric Dupond-Moretti considers that "justifying Hamas as some irresponsible politicians have done is devastating. In the eyes of some minds, it's a catastrophe."
More generally, he recalls that "anti-Semitism and the glorification of terrorism are offences. We cannot watch anti-Semitism grow in our country with impunity." "More than a hundred anti-Semitic acts" and more than 2000,<> online reports have taken place since the attacks, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said Thursday morning.
Faced with this situation, the Minister of Justice is asking for the justice system to be firm, for "the prosecutors to be severe and swift". On the subject of social media, "we are very careful to ensure that certain words are repressed. This verbal abuse ends up generating violence itself," he says.
The former lawyer also spoke about the trial that awaits him next month. The minister will be tried for illegal acquisition of interests by the Court of Justice of the Republic, a court dedicated to members of the government in the exercise of their functions. "I am presumed innocent, I intend to prove it. Since I became minister, I have always respected the presumption of innocence of one or the other," he said.